By Martin Sadongdong
The Ayala Group of Companies – led by its healthcare unit, Ayala Healthcare Holdings, Inc. (AC Health) – will build four Bio-Safety Level 2 laboratories and help capacitatethree existing laboratories in Makati, Cebu, and Davao and boost the national government’s bid to achieve its goal of conducting 50,000 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) daily tests this June.
The Ayala Group, led by brothers Jaime Augusto and Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corporation's chairman and president, respectively, said in a press statement that the four additional laboratories will be capable of conducting 5,500 confirmatory reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests per day.
A Bio-Safety Level 2 laboratory means it is suitable for work involving agents of moderate potential hazard to personnel and environment.
The Ayala Group said the initiative is part of their contribution to the Department of Health and the InterAgency Task Force’s Project T3 (Test, Trace, Treat), which aims to identify, isolate, and provide medical treatment to COVID-19 patients.
“At the Ayala Group, we are big believers in testing and are one with the government in their efforts to expand our country’s capacity,” Fernando Zobel de Ayala said.
“By constructing new laboratories and expanding capacity for existing ones, we will increase access to confirmatory RT-PCR testing for COVID19 in many critical areas,” he added.
In a send-off ceremony of over 300 repatriated overseas Filipino workers in Clark, Pampanga, on Tuesday, T3 testing czar Vince Dizon said the government is already capable of conducting 40,000 tests daily with the establishment of 54 testing laboratories nationwide.
“Ang pagtaas ng kaso natin ay function din ng pagtaas ng tinetest natin. Asahan niyo na kapag dumami ang tinetest natin, darami ang mahahanap na mga kaso (The spike in the number of cases is due to the increased testing capacity. Expect that as we test more people, positive cases will also increase),” Dizon said, allaying fears on the increasing number of infections.
As of June 10, the DOH recorded a total of 23,732 cases, including 740 new reported cases; 4,895 recoveries; and 1,027 deaths.
Gov’t, private sector collaboration
Last month, the AC Health group, led by the Zobel brothers, welcomed Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Action Plan on COVID-19; and Dizon to the laboratories at the Tropical Disease Foundation and Qualimed Sta. Rosa in Laguna for a tour of the facilities that the Ayala Group has upgraded and built.
“These additional testing laboratories will provide a major boost to the country’s health system, particularly in scaling up our capacity to conduct targeted COVID-19 testing, as we gradually open up our economy,” Galvez said.
“The DOH and the IATF are grateful to see our private sector partners, such as the Ayala Group, quickly and actively step up to this challenge and contribute to expanding testing capacity in the country. These are important wins for all of us, and we look forward to our continued partnership as we face the long-road ahead in the battle against COVID-19,” Dizon added.
AC Health partnered with the Qualimed Health Network, led by its president and CEO Dr. Edwin Mercado, to build four modular-type BSL-2 laboratories that will be located in their hospitals at Sta. Rosa, Laguna; Tanauan, Batangas; San Jose del Monte, Bulacan; and Iloilo City, Iloilo.
The “innovative and efficient” modular set-up, designed and built by Makati Development Corporation (MDC), will accelerate construction timelines for other laboratories, according to the AC Health.
The AC Health said it has been working closely with the DOH to ensure timely accreditation, while the rest of the laboratories of Qualimed network aim to get accredited and operational by end of June.
The modular BSL-2 laboratories, which follow the recommended design by the DOH, RITM, and WHO, are equipped with fully automated RNA extraction and RT-PCR systems and can process about 1,000 confirmator RT-PCR tests per day
The laboratory will be supervised by two Board-certified pathologists with training in molecular diagnostics.
AC Health and the Bloomberry Cultural Foundation, Inc. (BCFI) have also partnered with the Tropical Disease Foundation (TDF) to establish TDF’s capability to conduct confirmatory RT-PCR tests for COVID-19.
TDF is an existing Biosafety Level 2+ lab, and a specialty laboratory in tuberculosis research. AC Health and BCFI provided the facility with RT-PCR machines and equipment such as PCR and RNA extraction kits, biological safety cabinets, and a laboratory-grade refrigerator, among others.
On May 28, TDF was officially accredited by the DOH and can now process about 200 confirmatory RT-PCR tests per day.
In the Visayas region, AC Health is set out to partner with the University of Cebu Medical Center in Mandaue City, one of the leading private hospitals in Cebu, to expand their capacity by 250 tests per day.
Meanwhile, in the Mindanao region, AC Health and the Ayala Foundation will donate RT-PCR machines to the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City to increase their capacity by 1,000 confirmatory RT-PCR tests daily.
Apart from the Ayala Group, the establishment of the network of laboratories has been made possible through the generous donation of a consortium of private sector companies.
“Increasing the country’s confirmatory testing capacity is not an easy feat, but AC Health, together with all of our partners, remains committed to fill these gaps in our healthcare system,” said AC Health president and CEO Paolo Borromeo.
“I would like to thank all of our partners in both the public and private sector who continue to work towards the same goal of fighting COVID-19 by improving the testing capabilities of the entire country,” he added.