THE Department of Health (DoH) on Saturday announced that they are assessing five private hospitals in Metro Manila as possible extension laboratories for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) testing.

In a statement, Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd said these hospitals are St. Lukes Medical Center-Global City, Makati Medical Center, The Medical City, St. Lukes Medical Center- Quezon City and Chinese General Hospital.





“More laboratories will be assessed across all regions after this first round is completed,” Duque added.

Duque said the department is also exploring the possibility of linking lower-level laboratories to those with virus inactivation capacity.

“For example, virus inactivation can be done in the more sophisticated laboratories and samples can then be processed in lower-level laboratories. This will achieve the twin goals of increasing testing output per day and ensuring the safety of our health workers,” he explained.

Earlier, the DoH also announced that five sub-national laboratories are operating alongside the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City.

These are San Lazaro Hospital and Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center for Luzon, the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center for the Visayas and Southern Philippines Medical Center for Mindanao.

Two additional laboratories are being set up in Western Visayas Medical Center and Bicol Public Health Laboratory and will undergo proficiency testing for one week before they can begin testing.

The University of the Philippines-National Institute of Health as an extension lab has also been mobilized and is currently testing overflow samples from the RITM.

“We must underscore the importance of laboratory certification due to the hazards of handling a live virus. The department is exercising utmost care in certifying more sub-national laboratories and ensuring that biosafety measures are in place,” Duque said.

Meanwhile, aside from the current 1,300 available kits and recently delivered kits (2,050) from China and South Korea, the DoH is anticipating an additional 120,500 units from different countries, including from South Korea and Brunei Darussalam and some additional kits from China.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved six testing kits for commercial use that hospitals with laboratory capability can already procure and use.

Once increased testing capacity is in place, Duque said, testing of mild cases and patients under investigation can resume.

Mass testing for non-symptomatic cases is still not recommended but the DoH is optimistic that with its expanded testing capacity, it can now test more people faster, he added.

“We are faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges, but I am hopeful that with vigilance, perseverance and solidarity, we will rise above this Covid-19 pandemic. I am most grateful for the heroism of our health workers and frontliners for their dedication to overcome our present situation,” Duque said.