The Davao City government has hired new medical technologists to boost manpower and testing capabilities in the city’s continued fight to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
The medical technologists were trained by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) before their deployment to the newly-commissioned testing laboratory for Covid-19 at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport.
“There are six medical technologists who finished their training last week. They will now be prepared for their proficiency test,” said City Health Office (CHO) Chief Dr. Josephine Villafuerte.
Villafuerte said that they can start processing samples at the davao airport laboratory when they pass the proficiency test.
The testing laboratory at the Davao airport was donated by Unilab pharmaceutical company on September 15. It can examine 92 specimens per run.
Also, 11 medical technologists are currently undergoing training in preparation for the soon to open Los Amigos Covid testing laboratory.
Villafuerte said that the personnel who are deployed at the Covid-19 laboratories are required to undergo training on biosafety, biosecurity, and processing through the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machine.
There are more than 10 medical technologists on deck for training. CIO
