Benguet hospital gets another RT–PCR machine

ANOTHER reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machine was recently turned over to Benguet General Hospital (BeGH) this week in a bid to speed up the release of swab test results and address the backlog in testing Covid-19 in the province.

On Tuesday, April 20, 2021, Benguet caretaker and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) partylist Representative Eric Go Yap turned over to BeGH a brand new RT-PCR machine.

Yap said BeGH’s RT-PCR machine earlier bogged down, resulting in the backlog of Covid–19 test results for the province that prompted him to donate another machine.

“Two weeks ago, nag-bog-down yung PCR natin, so temporary nag-shutdown. Then yung mga test kits natin, binabasa nanaman sa Baguio. Ang problema sa Baguio, sobra na silang bugbog, andami nilang binabasa dun kay 'pag nagpa-swab ka ngayon, three days bago nila mabasa,” said Yap.

Yap added based on experience and with the recent backlog, there is a possibility the false–positive rate are increasing because the specimens might be contaminated.

The lawmaker earlier turned over an additional high-flow oxygen machine. He was briefed by BeGH officials that the existing molecular laboratory needed an additional RT-PCR machine to increase the laboratory’s testing capacity and lessen the turnaround time in the release of swab test results for the immediate intervention of Covid-19 patients.

Yap said with the recent improvement of facilities at BeGH, the hospital can help decongest hospitals in Baguio City in providing quality health care services to the people coming from the different parts of the Cordillera and Northern Luzon.

In 2020, Yap shelled out from his personal resources the construction of a molecular laboratory inside BeGH, the third facility in the Cordillera following the designation of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center as a sub-national testing center and the accreditation of the Luis Hora Memorial Regional Hospital molecular laboratory in Bauko, Mountain Province. (Roderick Osis)

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