(Eagle News) — There are now 26 government certified laboratories and facilities that can do COVID-19 tests, increasing the country’s capacity for further virus test processing.
The latest to be added was the state-of-the-art Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded Molecular and Diagnostic Pathology Laboratory of the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (JBLMGH) in San Fernando, Pampanga which was inaugurated on Saturday, May 9, 2020.
JBLMGH was the recipient of the US2.5 million dollar-grant from the ADB to set up a Pandemic Sub national Reference Laboratory which will ramp up the country’s testing capacity by an additional 3,000 tests daily, according to the Department of Health.
Another newly certified laboratory by the DOH is the De La Salle Medical Health and Sciences Institute in Cavite
In Metro Manila, there are 17 certified laboratories for COVID-19 testing. They are the following:
-Chinese General Hospital, Detoxicare Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Lung Center of the Philippines, Makati Medical Center, Marikina City Health Office, Philippine Genome Center in UP DIliman, Philippine National Red Cross in Mandaluyong, PRC Logistics and Multi-Purpose Center (PRC-PLMC), Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, San Lazaro Hospital, Singapore Diagnostics Inc., St. Luke’s Medical Center in BCG, St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City, The Medical City in Oritgas, UP National Institute of Health, UP-Philippine General Hospital-MRL, and V. Luna Hospital.
Outside Metro Manila, there are nine certified laboratories so far. They are the following:
-Baguio General Hospital, De La Salle University Medical Center in Cavite, Bicol Regional Diagnostic Laboratory, Western Visayas Medical Center, Vicenter Sotto Medical Center, Cebu TB Reference Laboratory, Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center, Southern Philippines Medical Center, and the JB Lingad Memorial Hospital in Pampanga.
The Department of Foreign Affairs also informed all overseas Filipinos who recently returned to the country about these certified laboratories where they can have their COVID-19 tests.
“For the information of all OFWs and their families, there are now 24 government- certified laboratories/ facilities for COVID-19 testing as of 9 May 2020,” the DFA said in a tweet.
“Medical authorities will need to make an initial assessment before a person can be tested. If a determination is made to require a test, you will be tested for COVID-19 and your samples will be brought to any of the certified testing laboratories near you,” it added.
Earlier, Vince Dizon, the Deputy Chief Implementer of the National Task Force COVID-19 and President of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), said that the Philippine government hopes to have 78 certified COVID-19 laboratories by end of May, to ramp up the COVID-19 testing and processing of results.
The Department of Health hopes that with increased mass testing and with more COVID-19 certified laboratories, the target of 30,000 COVID-19 tests daily could be achieved by end of the month.
(Eagle News Service)
