By Jhon Casinas
The Pasig City government has partnered with The Medical City (TMC) to increase its coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-29) testing capacity to nearly 300 tests every week.
Mayor Vico Sotto announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the hospital officials on Wednesday, April 15, to address the backlog in testing of persons suspected with the disease. “It's official! We have been partners with The Medical City from the beginning,” Sotto said in his Facebook page.
“Now, with this MOA, we will be able to address our PUI (persons under investigation)-testing backlog in around one week,” he added. The local chief executive has noted that a “broad-based testing” is the key to slowing down the spread of COVID-19, which has already infected more than 200 people in Pasig, according to the local government.
“With our agreement with The Medical City, we have increased our capacity to up to 270 tests per week,” Sotto said. This was after TMC was granted Stage 5 accreditation by the Department of Health (DOH). Previously, he explained that the city government was able to conduct 30 to 60 tests per week under the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM)—the primary COVID-19 testing facility in the country.
In its Facebook page, TMC said a Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which is considered as the “gold standard” for COVID-29 testing, will be used for the mass testing of Pasig frontliners and residents. “PCR testing is considered as the gold standard for COVID-19 testing,” the hospital said.
“With the use of TMC's DOH-accredited laboratory, the agreement will be able to address the need for an increase in testing capacity,” TMC added.