THE Davao City government is eyeing more coronavirus disease (Covid-19) testing centers in the city.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said in a radio interview on Thursday, April 23, that the city is facilitating the accreditation of Davao Doctors Hospital and a privately-owned laboratory that will conduct the testing in the city.
“We are waiting for papers atong isa ka private nga laboratory nga willing mag set-up diri sa Davao City ug Covid-19 testing facility and ginatabangan nato sila nga i-push ang ilahang papers (We are waiting for the papers of one private laboratory that is willing to set up a Covid-19 testing facility in Davao City),” Duterte-Carpio said in a radio interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
The mayor said the city is also considering setting up its own testing center. She said they may be replicating the testing center of Marikina City in Luzon as a model for Davao City’s testing center. Marikina and Davao City inked a sister city agreement in 2018.
“Nag-reach out nata sa Marikina, and they are helping and guiding us kung unsaon nato pag-set up ang local government unit Covid testing laboratories (We already reached out to Marikina government, and they are helping and guiding us in setting up our own local local government unit Covid testing laboratories),” Duterte-Carpio said.
Duterte-Carpio said she will utilize the funds from the Bayanihan grant of the national government. The proposed budget ordinance will be submitted to the Sangguniang Panlungsod next week.
“We have money from the Bayanihan grant which will be submitted to SP next week. Nag allot ta didto og Covid-19 testing facility laboratory for Davao City (We have allotted funds for the testing facility for Davao City),” she added.
The mayor said the city government will now include in its Covid-19 response the establishment of testing centers, this is on top of the preventive measures that it has implemented during the course of the Covid-19 pandemic like the restriction of the movement of people and the establishment of quarantine centers for suspected Covid-19 patients.
The Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) is the only health institution in Davao Region and Mindanao that has been given certification by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to independently conduct Covid-19 testing.
SPMC is only able to conduct an average of 60 to 80 tests per day. Earlier, SPMC chief Dr. Leopoldo Vega said there are only two molecular biologists in their hospital who are conducting the tests.
Due to the hospital’s limitations, it is not easy to conduct mass testing in the city and the region.
However, she said the city has enough funds to buy testing kits.
“Gi ask dayon nako ang DOH (Department of Health) because we have money to buy mga testing kits, if pwede na ba ta mag-rapid testing. Pero nitubag si DOH nga dili pa siya possible (I asked DOH if we could already have the rapid mass testing since we have money to buy testing kits. But they told us it’s not possible) since only 60 tests can be done every day,” Duterte-Carpio said. (RGL with CIO)