Malacañang continues to encourage the use of rapid test kits (RTKs) in testing the people for COVID-19 even though medical practitioners are not convinced of the results they produce.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after Dr. Anthony Dans of the Philippine Society of General Internal Medicine said RTKs could contribute or have contributed to the number of COVID-19 infections in the country.
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Roque said that Dans was probably just expressing his opinion because other doctors have expressed support for the use of RTKs in conjunction with PCT rests.
"In the Philippines, we have never encouraged RTK or rapid test kits as a stand-alone test. We always say that it should be used in conjunction with PCR, recognizing that PCRs are still the most accurate," he said.
According to Roque, the use of RTKs should not be encouraged in a country like the Philippines where not all people have access to test kits.
"Even if we have 32,000 tests per day now, the reality is not everyone can still get them," he said.
"The manner by which they are used by Project ARK, which is still in conjunction with PCR tests, I think, should not be discouraged because it still produces the result that we want which is to find out who among our population is afflicted with the disease," he added.
Roque, however, refused to refer to PCR tests as "gold standard."
"I hesitate to call them as a gold standard because just like RTKs, there are now many cases of false positives registered using PCR tests because much of it depends on the manner by which it was administered and sometimes it's the incompatibility of the kits and machines itself," he said.
"No test is perfect so you have to complement the use of PCR with RTKs," he added.
Pooled testing
Roque said the government is set to start with the pooled testing in Makati on Thursday, August 6.
"I know that the pilot will start in Makati. It's supposed to start on the 6th, I don't know if they changed their timetable," he said.
"But the pilot, after initial steps have been approved by the Philippine Society of Pathologists, we'll finally start on the 6th or within the first two weeks of August," he added.
Pooled testing, as explained by Roque, is the use of one PCR test on 10 individuals, bringing down the cost of testing from around P3,000 to just around P300.
The method will allow more people to be tested. If a kit tests positive for COVID-19, the entire batch that used the kit will be retested.