ILOILO CITY – The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) is set to open a testing laboratory for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Iloilo province soon.
“We are working on the project so we can be operational in about three weeks,” Senator Richard Gordon informed Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. in a letter.
Gordon, who is also PRC chairman, said the COVID-19 molecular laboratory will be located in Passi City where the PRC Regional Logistics and Disaster Management Training Center is also located.
Gordon disclosed in the letter that the PRC COVID-19 laboratory will be able test at least 2,000 swab specimens using the reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machine, which is the gold standard in COVID-19 testing.
PRC-Iloilo Chapter is also closely coordinating with the local government of Passi City under Mayor Stephen Palmares for completion of the COVID-19 laboratory.
The PRC COVID-19 laboratory is expected to boost the testing capacity for Iloilo province and other areas of Panay Island including Aklan, Antique and Capiz provinces.
Majority of COVID-19 specimens are currently being sent to the Western Visayas Medical Center-Sub-National Laboratory (WVMC-SNL), the laboratory managed by Department of Health (DOH-6) in Iloilo City.
But with the rising number of cases of locally transmitted COVID-19, the WVMC-SNL has been having a hard time processing the specimens, and releasing these on time.