The establishment of three coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-2019) testing laboratories in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City are ongoing.
Hospital-based facilities are being set up by the provincial government in Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital (TLJPH) in Silay City and by the city government here in Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH).
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II said that on Monday, six medical technologists from Negros Occidental who will be part of the laboratory team have started training in Iloilo City.
“The province is still doing everything possible to meet the (first week of May) deadline and establish the testing laboratory at the soonest time possible. We are in the process of procuring all the requirements of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to be granted level five accreditation,” he added.
According to the Department of Health (DOH), there are five stages in the process of accrediting laboratories for Covid-19 testing.
The DOH only authorizes reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing in hospitals that are in Stage 4 or proficiency testing stage and Stage 5 or full-scale implementation stage.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson has signed the PHP12-million purchase request for laboratory equipment and 6,000 testing kits.
“The governor envisions that once the returning OFWs arrive, they can undergo RT-PCR testing right away. We might even dispense with or phase out the rapid tests once the RT-PCR testing laboratory is established. We will have a fast turn-over time of results. Holding time may not be more than a day,” Diaz said.
In Bacolod, the construction of the Biosafety Laboratory Testing Center in CLMMRH has already started.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia said on Tuesday the memorandum of agreement of the city government with the hospital administration has already been approved.
The city’s PHP20-million funding assistance will be used primarily for the construction of the laboratory building and to purchase testing kits.
Five health workers of CLMMRH led by chief pathologist Dr. Hans Ferraris attended the biosafety and biosecurity training with the Philippine Genome Center Visayas at the University of the Philippines-Visayas and the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City on April 27 to 30.
They will serve as the core team for the Covid-19 testing laboratory in this city.
The Bacolod testing laboratory is expected to be fully operational in June “if everything goes according to plan”, Ferraris said.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Red Cross Negros Occidental-Bacolod City Chapter is also establishing a molecular biology laboratory for Covid-19 testing in its headquarters in this city.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the PRC here said that the recruitment process has started for the hiring of 14 medical technologists.
Chapter officials also met with the pathologist who will head the Covid-19 testing laboratory.
The revised facility design was already submitted to the DOH for approval, it added. (Nanette Guadalquiver ndb)