THE Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (JBLMGH) in the City of San Fernando will soon be a Pandemic Subnational Reference Laboratory (PSRL) expanding its capacity to detect the presence of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2).
“Asian Development Bank, through Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), granted the request of Department of Health (DOH) in developing the capacity of JBLMGH as a PSRL,” DOH regional director Cesar Cassion said.
“BGI, registered in the People’s Republic of China, provides a comprehensive solution for the set-up of a high-quality large capacity laboratory facility. This includes provision of complete equipment, reagents, test kits, consumables, personal protective equipment, training of national staff, and electronic management software and hardware. The solution also includes quality assurance system and waste decontamination and disposal,” Cassion added.
“BGI will station its own full-time staff at the PSRL facility to provide guidance during the preparation of the site, train the national staff, commission the facility and provide technical support during the first weeks of operation,” JBLMGH Medical Center chief Monserrat Chichioco said.
Subsequently, it will provide permanent online and intermittent on-site technical support for trouble shooting and maintenance.
“In preparation, we built the facility from March 21 to April 18 prior to the arrival of three BGI laboratory technicians and the laboratory equipment on April 21 through air transport arranged by Department of National Defense,” Chichioco added.
Installation and commissioning of the whole set-up is scheduled from April 22 to 30.
Moreover, Proficiency testing is expected to be done from May 2 to 10 wherein the laboratory may already accept coronavirus disease (Covid-19) samples.
The laboratory will first need to test five positive samples as confirmed by Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
Once all five positive samples have been confirmed by RITM as correct, the laboratory is expected to be certified by May 15 and will be allowed to test samples at full scale by May 16.
At present, JBLMGH is at Stage 3 of accreditation process wherein staff who will operate the laboratory will undergo a special three-day training at RITM scheduled this week.
“Once accreditation is completed and the laboratory is fully operational, we expect to scale up molecular testing for COVID-19 using polymerase chain reaction tests, and will ultimately contribute in the mass testing needed for post-lockdown efforts to continue suppressing Covid-19,” Chichioco added.
The PSRL facility is expected to continue to operate beyond the Covid-19 pandemic to support research on other pathogens, genetic disease, and cancer.
The facility could also be used as a training facility for laboratory technicians. (PIA-Central Luzon)