GOVERNOR Eugenio Jose Lacson is hoping that the Negros Bio-lab (Testing Center) at Teresita Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City would be given accreditation by the Department of Health and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
“We are closing to the end line than last week and we hope to have it before end of the month,” Lacson said when asked for an update about the bio-lab.
The governor revealed that there are already 12,000 RT-PCR kits available and that they are hoping that the PCR machines peripherals will arrive soon.
RT-PCR tests are used as confirmatory tests for Covid-19 and are currently conducted in 18 public and private laboratories across the country. RT-PCR testing requires at least BioSafety Level 2 facilities, specialized machinery, testing kits and reagents, and trained medical personnel. All facilities need to be jointly certified by the DOH and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
The Department of Health has committed to expedite the certification process for existing laboratories, and for new laboratories that will be built. “The DOH welcomes the private sector’s support and participation in aggressively expanding testing capacity in the country, as well as in efforts to ramp up isolation and treatment,” DOH Secretary Francisco Duque said.
Secretary Charlie Galvez, the NTF Chief Implementer of the National Action Plan against Covid-19 also said, “We can mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on our economic wellbeing if we aggressively push for testing so that we can locate, isolate and care for Covid-19 carriers and those who are sick in order to keep our communities safe enough to resume a level of economic activities. (TDE)