By Glazyl Masculino
BACOLOD CITY - The Doctor's Hospital Inc. (TDHI) here opened the first reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) laboratory in Negros island.
(City Administrator Em Ang / MANILA BULLETIN)
According to City Administrator Em Ang, TDHI initiated the modular lab project, which was set up within its hospital grounds, in collaboration with Mount Grace Hospitals, Inc. and United Laboratories, Inc. (UNILAB) to help expand the country's PCR-based testing capability in the ongoing battle against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The turnover rites was held last Saturday in the presence of TDHI president Noel Antenor Cruz, Dr. Rafael Jocson, chief of hospital, UNILAB executives, Councilor Cindy Tan-Rojas, and City Administrator Em Ang, among others.
The laboratory is modular, transforming shipping container vans into a multi-room laboratory suite that meets the international guidance for biosafety level 2 (BSL2) and certifiable by the Department of Health (DOH) for clinical testing of human specimens.
Cruz said that the total output of each eight-hour shift will be from 100-150 tests, and yielding an estimate of 300-450 tests at full capacity of three shifts. RT-PCR testing is the preferred mode of testing for detection of COVID-19 cases.
Ang said it was the first COVID-19 modular biosafety laboratory to be installed outside Metro Manila. The first one is at the Philippine Veteran’s Hospital in Manila.
There are four other biosafety laboratories that are being developed in the city, by the government and private initiatives.