NEGRENSE Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri is donating 2,000 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) antibody diagnostic kits to the Provincial Governments of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental as well as City Government of Bacolod.
The majority floor leader, in a statement, said he received reports that Negros Island is in need of Covid-19 test kits and local government units (LGUs) and health authorities there have to wait for days, even weeks, for their swab results to come out as there are only two laboratories servicing the Visayas area.
The testing kits to be donated are the rapid antibody testing kits which was recently promoted by President Rodrigo Duterte during his weekly briefings and can be used without the need of testing laboratories.
The test kits will be divided among the LGUs.
Negros Occidental will get 1,000 kits, 500 kits for Bacolod City and another 500 kits for Negros Oriental.
The Tatak Kalamay was tasked by the senator to hand over the testing kits Thursday, April 23 to Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
The testing kits for Negros Oriental, on the other hand, will be endorsed to their provincial health officer at the border of Mabinay and Kabankalan over the weekend.
“While I know the gold standard of testing for Covid-19 are the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test kits, in the absence of laboratories in Negros Island, this will initially have to do,” Zubiri said.
The senator was among those diagnosed with the virus but successfully recovered after undergoing self-quarantine.
While he hails from Bukidnon, he has roots in Negros Occidental that he calls his second home.
Zubiri said this is the third wave of test kits donation from his office as part of his contribution to the country’s continuing battle against the coronavirus crisis.
Prior to this, he also donated PCR test kits to the Philippine General Hospital through the University of the Philippines - National Institutes of Health and in three Regional Health Centers in Mindanao a couple of days ago.
“If we just focus on Metro Manila alone, we will never win against Covid,” Zubiri said, adding that, “there is a need to conduct mass testing in other areas as well and help these local government units address their own crisis as soon as possible.”
The senator also said “I have prioritized Mindanao and some parts of Visayas such as Negros Island outside of Luzon as the Department of Health (DOH) has yet to accredit a single testing laboratory in these areas.”
“This is one of my biggest frustrations and I urge the DOH to cut the bureaucratic red tape and focus on accrediting or setting up laboratories and testing centers in provinces and major urban areas,” he said.
The official added that while Metro Manila still accounts for majority of our country’s Covid-19 cases, “Visayas and Mindanao have not been spared and the number has been alarming given their limited testing capacity.”
Zubiri also voiced sympathy for health care workers in the Visayas and Mindanao as he expressed hopes that some of the test kits that they are sending out can be allocated for the health workers.
“We really need nationwide testing. That’s the only way we can properly identify the scope of this virus, and the only way we can begin to eliminate it,” he added.