THE Negros Oriental Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) passed on Tuesday, May 4, a resolution asking its legal team to investigate the alleged fake results of swab tests presented by a group of workers seeking employment in Bohol.

IATF-EID executive director Adrian Sedillo said Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion informed the body during their regular meeting Tuesday morning of the incident involving some 20 construction workers.

Sedillo said it is now up to the legal team to determine the possible appropriate legal action to be taken against these people and to also check on the possible liability of their supposed employer.

The faking of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results is detrimental to the province and will put the name of the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital Molecular Laboratory (NOPHML) in a bad light, he said.

“It placed the name and the integrity of the molecular laboratory and the provincial government in question,” he added.

The incident was discovered late last week after Bohol verified with Negros Oriental the authenticity of the RT-PCR results, a pre-requisite before entering that neighboring province, Sedillo said.

These people are still in the province, as they were not allowed to depart for Bohol following the discovery, he added. (PNA)