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Introduction of Central Animal House

Central Animal House (CAH) caters to augment the teaching, training and research facilities and to meet the growing demand for high quality laboratory animals at UCMS, Delhi.

The Central Animal House is registered with the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA), Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India (Reg. No 508/2001/ CPCSEA) and has an established Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) that advises the institution and teachers/researchers on facilities, policies and practices at CAH concerning the care and use of animals. The IAEC and CAH staff ensures that the three R's, replacement, reduction and refinement, are invoked for every project involving animals and that these principles are upheld to minimize the number of animals used for teaching/research at UCMS. The IAEC ensures that each project meets or exceeds the standards expressed in the CPCSEA Guide on the Use of Laboratory Animal for Experiments.

Each species of animals is housed in barrier maintained individual rooms to avoid disease transmission and inter-species conflicts. All efforts are made to maintain the animals under controlled environmental conditions [Temperature (22-26°C), Relative Humidity (50± 10 %), 12:12 hr light and dark cycle] with 100 % fresh air exchange in animal rooms and uninterrupted power and water supply. A high degree of hygienic conditions is being maintained and the macro- and micro- environment around the animals are maintained as per the CPCSEA guidelines. Regular disinfection of animal rooms and cleaning and sterilization of cages, water bottles, bedding etc are practiced. Heavy duty double-door steam sterilizer has been provided for sterilization of all materials entering into the animals rooms.

Periodic health monitoring of the animals is carried out to ascertain the heath status of the animals. In addition, feed and water analysis are also taken care periodically for assessing their quality and microbiolological contamination. The various records of the inbred and out bred animals are maintained by manual record keeping. Waste disposal is carried out through environment friendly incinerator. A team of well qualified Veterinarian, Technicians and attendants, who are experienced and trained in modern methods of animal care, breeding and husbandry, manage this facility.