THE Department of Health (DOH) has debunked the claims of Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong and stressed that no expired coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) test kits were sent by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to the city.
"The DOH and RITM clarifies (sic) that, based on delivery records and documents, no expired testing kits were released to any laboratory," the DOH said in a statement.
The agency said, however, that its Covid-19 Laboratory Network Project Management Unit (PMU) is developing a more efficient and focused logistics process to ensure that test kits are delivered before their expiry dates.
The agency explained that shipment and other laboratory processes take up part of the short shelf life of these test kits.
"Unlike medicines, which have a shelf life of three to five years, testing kits have a significantly shorter shelf life of six months from the date of manufacturing," the agency said.
Additionally, machine compatibility, technical issues, low testing referral count, and availability of supplies also contribute to low consumption of the Covid-19 test kits, which, in turn, increase likelihood of expiry before use, the DOH said.
Magalong had claimed that 50,000 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test kits were delivered to Baguio City laboratories past their expiry dates.
Magalong also claimed that there are other local government units that received near-expiry test kits.
An RT-PCR test detects the presence of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, in nasopharyngeal swab specimens. (HDT / SunStar Philippines)