BAGUIO City Councilor Arthur Allad-iw is pushing for mass testing of Covid–19.
Allad-iw said the tests will help prioritize those who may need immediate medical attention.
“Those with PUI (patients under investigation) or PUM (person under monitoring), the frontliners medical practitioners, and those most vulnerable should receive the immediate testing and more support. This is for the sustainable address of the Covid–19,” Allad-iw said.
Allad–iw also took a jab at VIP testing in the national government where officials and their families were first to be tested despite having no symptoms.
“That is why it is condemnable that officials in the national government had their test first despite limited resources and those priority frontliners and with PUM and PUI,” Allad–iw said.
“I believe that the national government, who had lapses as to early declaration and plans on how to support the most vulnerable sector, must ensure the download of funds to support the people by ensuring their food and other needs so that they will not break the quarantine for the sake of survival,” the councilor added.
To hasten testing, in the absence of ample test kits, an Artificial Intelligence Covid-19 CT Scan Analyzer, a new technology of Huawei company that helps doctors detect coronavirus disease, will be operational soon at the Baguio General Hospital.
Mayor Benjie Magalong said AI analyzer is a diagnostic system that would help our doctors identify highly suspicious Covid-19 cases.
Magalong said test results from the technology are not conclusive and confirmatory but will give the city a heads-up on whether or not a patient is a probable Covid-19 case.