THE University of Cebu Medical Center (UCMed) has opened its new Department of Health (DOH)-accredited PCR testing laboratory for Covid-19 on Thursday, July 30, 2020.
According to Candice Gotianuy, UCMed president, the laboratory has a capacity to process 800 tests per day, making it the first private hospital in Mandaue City and the second in Cebu Province to be certified by the DOH in terms of its PCR testing laboratory.
“The important part is the ribonucleic acid (RNA) extractor because in most hospitals, everything is manual. It was so tedious and exhausting for the medical technologists. So we bought the RNA machine to make it easier for them,” Gotianuy said.
An RNA machine automates the extraction of RNA from the cell or tissue samples, based on the data from thomasnet.com.
UCMed is the only private hospital in Cebu with an RNA extractor to reduce human error and speed up processing time, ensuring accurate and timely results.
“The RNA machine is the link for more accurate testing,” she said.
Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Secretary Michael Dino welcomed the opening of the additional laboratory as it would further support Cebu’s healthcare capacity for Covid-19 with the expected shift of Cebu City to general community quarantine (GCQ) by next month.
“We will be opening soon, with the GCQ in August. We need all the testing capacity in Cebu. The opening of this laboratory is helping the economy. This is beyond business. This is giving back to Cebu,” Dino said.
He thanked lawyer Augusto Go, president of the University of Cebu (UC), and Gotianuy for the contribution of the hospital to the Cebuanos.
With the upcoming GCQ, Gotianuy said they are working on putting up drive-through swab testing facilities in UC Banilad and UCLM to boost their capacity.
As of this writing, the staff of UCMed has done over 5,000 swab tests and over 10,500 rapid tests.
UCMed’s outpatient rate is at P7,200 and corporate packages can reach as low as P5,000.
The hospital also offers special rates for corporate accounts with onsite testing for at least 50 persons using its drive-through swab testing facility with results in just two to three days to be sent via email. (JOB)