THE Davao Regional Development Council (RDC-Davao) is pushing for the establishment of Covid-19 testing centers per provinces as part of the Council's Covid-19 Resiliency and Recovery Program for Davao Region.
During the virtual launch of Davao Regional Development Plan 2017-2022, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda)-Davao Director Maria Lourdes Lim said they had declared the period of June to December 2020 as a recovery stage.
This means that the local government units, in the remaining months of 2020, will focus on strengthening the health systems and healthcare facilities and improving the status and supply of human resources for the health sector.
Lim, who is also the RDC vice chairperson, said one of their plans includes the hiring of contact tracers.
Department of Health (DOH)-Davao Director Annabelle Yumang also said the need for contact tracers will strengthen the region's surveillance effort in tracing individuals who are suspected and confirmed coronavirus-positive individuals.
Aside from that, Yumang said there is also a need to establish more Covid-19 testing centers and laboratories within the region.
"We need to upgrade and have Covid-19 testing laboratories in the region, specifically at the different provinces," she said.
Yumang emphasized the need to establish Covid-19 testing labs in other provinces to further capacitate local government units in their testing and other Covid-19 response actions.
Davao de Oro Governor and RDC Chairperson Jayvee Tyron Uy said they are already working on their own level two Covid-19 laboratory to cater to the testing of samples from individuals within their province.
Uy said this is also to relieve the number of test samples being sent to the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) in Davao City and Davao Regional Medical Center (DRMC) in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.
Both SPMC and DRMC are the only Covid-19 referral government hospitals in the region, and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM)-accredited hospitals to do Covid-19 testing results.
Lim, meanwhile, said they crafted the plan to establish a unified regional guidelines on quarantine measures and strict implementation of health protocols per local government unit in the region.
Meanwhile, the Neda official said the council hopes to move forward with its economic and progressive goals amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
She also hopes that the region's progress would further commence in 2021, wherein the Covid-19 vaccine is targeted to be available in the market.
As of August 30, Davao Region has a total confirmed Covid-19 cases of 2,137, wherein 471 are still recovering, 1,599 have recovered, and 67 have died.