By Shirley Matias Pizarro
BALANGA, BATAAN — Mass testing will be the next step for the province of Bataan as soon as its very own Bio-Safety Laboratory Level 2 gets full accreditation from the Department of Health (DOH) and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM). Proficiency testing of COVID-19 cases in the province will start on May 15.
(BATAAN PROVINCIAL INFORMATION OFFICE / MANILA BULLETIN)
Bataan Governor Albert Garcia is pulling out all the stops for the completion of the laboratory located in this city as he envisions mass testing to complement all of the province’s efforts to flatten the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) curve.
“This will make the invisible enemy visible to us so we can have a better chance at fighting it out while we are still waiting for the vaccine,” he said.
The governor explained: “The situation now is that it takes time for patients to get the results of their Covid-19 tests. If we will have our own testing facility right here in the province, then it will easier to determine who are infected, isolate them immediately and give them the appropriate treatment and medication fast. This will complement everything that we are doing here in Bataan to slow down the virus, deprive it of hosts and ultimately eradicate it.”
According to Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) Chief Dr. Glory Baltazar, "the province’s testing laboratory is technically in Stage 4 of the accreditation process set by the RITM as all the necessary trainings have already been completed by the medical technologists and pathologists who will man the Bataan laboratory.”
Garcia has appointed department head Geoff Loyola to head the team in-charge of putting up the first bio-safety Laboratory in Bataan.
Loyola said the provincial government has already earmarked P20 million for this project, part of which went to the purchase of two Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machines, which are said to be the “gold standard” coronavirus testing as it yields 95-98 percent test results accuracy.
“Gov. Garcia made it very clear to us that the bio-safety laboratory is a priority. All the necessary equipment for the processes of Nucleic Acid Extraction, Aliquoting and Template Addition, Reagent Preparation, Real Time PCR, and Serology have already been procured and delivered. We also purchased bio-safety cabinet, freezer thermometer, microcentrifuge, vortex mixer, variable volume pipettor; bio-medical freezer, incubator, and a fit testing apparatus,” he said.
As such, Loyola said they were awaiting the delivery of the first 5,000 test kits, on top of the 45,000 that were ordered from Manila Health Tek Inc., the official distributor of test kits manufactured by the University of the Philippines (UP).
“Everything is set. When our very own bio-safety lab gets fully operational, we can test around 150 cases in a day,” Loyola shared.
The Bataan Bio-Safety Testing Laboratory will for the exclusive use of Bataenos, funded by the provincial government of Bataan, operated and managed by BGHMC and DOH.
“We are serious in our efforts to defeat this virus. The provincial government is doing everything it can, with the resources available to us, to see the day when this pandemic ends. I’m praying that that day will come sooner. In the meantime, I urge my fellow Bataenos to keep their hopes up and remain vigilant,” Garcia reiterated.