The newly-commissioned testing laboratory for Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport will start running reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests next week after an inspection was made on Tuesday.
Davao City Health Officer Dr. Jsoephine Villafuerte said the RT-PCR machine, which can examine 92 specimens per run, is already complete and eight medical technologists have been deployed on Tuesday for on-site training.
The testing laboratory, donated by Unilab to the Davao City government, was inspected on Tuesday by Villafuerte, Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) officer-in-charge, Dr. Ric Audan, City Tourism officer-in-charge Regina Rosa Tecson, City Engineerâs Office officer-in-charge Atty. Joseph Dominic Felizarta, and some medical technologists from SPMC.
âGi turnover na ang equipment ug katong building gahapon, so gipa check na sa amoa, naa na man ang equipment tanan (The equipment and building were already handed over to us, so we were asked to check them. All the equipment are ready). It would examine about 92 specimens per run,â Villafuerte said.
Air travel passengers coming in the city will be prioritized to be tested in the donated testing laboratory. Testing of all arriving passengers is free of charge.
Currently, Davao City has two testing laboratories. One is at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) and the other one is the privately-owned Davao One World.
Davao Doctorâs Hospital has already submitted the forms for accreditation of its own testing centers to the Department of Health and is waiting for the result.
Another government-owned testing center, the Los Amigos Health Center, is still under construction. CIO