Lab Technician (Microbiology) Jobs in Chennai Diagnostic Centre

📋 Job Description

Jobzi is sourcing qualified candidates for Lab Technician (Microbiology) positions in Chennai's private Diagnostic Centre sector. This is a full-time opportunity with a reputed Healthcare and Diagnostics employer in Chennai offering competitive salary, structured growth, and a professional work environment. Tamil communication skills are preferred alongside English for professional and business interaction in Chennai.

📌 Key Responsibilities

• Process clinical specimens including urine, sputum, wound swabs, blood cultures, and CSF for bacterial and fungal culture and sensitivity testing.
• Prepare culture media including blood agar, MacConkey agar, chocolate agar, and CLED agar and quality-check each batch before use.
• Perform Gram staining, ZN staining for AFB, and potassium hydroxide wet mount preparations for direct microscopy and preliminary reporting.
• Inoculate, incubate, and read culture plates at 24-hour and 48-hour intervals and identify significant colony growth for further characterisation.
• Perform antibiotic sensitivity testing by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method and interpret zone sizes against CLSI breakpoints for MIC reporting.
• Operate CBNAAT or NAAT platforms for rapid TB and drug-resistance detection from sputum and extra-pulmonary specimens as per SOP.
• Maintain strict biosafety level 2 compliance in the microbiology work area including decontamination of work surfaces, autoclave sterilisation, and sharps disposal.

🎓 Qualifications and Requirements

• DMLT or B.Sc. MLT with hands-on microbiology culture laboratory experience including media preparation and culture plate reading.
• Proficiency in staining techniques including Gram stain, ZN stain for AFB, India ink for cryptococcal antigen, and Giemsa for parasitology smears.
• Knowledge of common pathogenic bacteria, their colony characteristics, and interpretation of antibiotic sensitivity results by CLSI criteria.
• Experience with blood culture incubation systems and understanding of contamination versus true bacteraemia significance.
• Ability to operate CBNAAT/NAAT platforms for rapid molecular TB detection and generate accurate reports within TAT.
• Awareness of biosafety level 2 requirements applicable to clinical microbiology laboratories including PPE use and waste decontamination.
• Familiarity with NABL quality documentation requirements for microbiology including proficiency testing participation and QC records.
• Good Tamil and English communication skills for team coordination and client interaction in Chennai.

✅ Required Skills