Vice President Leni Robredo’s office has allotted P14 million as funding for the purchase of additional coronavirus test kits in four provincial hospitals and testing centers.
Vice President Leni Robredo said that an amount of P3.5 million each was allocated for UP Los Baños molecular diagnostic laboratory, Zamboanga del Sur Medical Center, Dr. Jorge Royeca Hospital, and Cotabato Regional and Medical Center.
This was on top of the P12.5-million funds given by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to buy test kits in Iloilo and Lanao del Sur last month.
“Ngayong buwan ng December ay nag-download ulit tayo ng pera pang-tulong sa additional na mga test kits (This December, we again downloaded funds as assistance for additional test kits),” she said.
The vice president explained these areas were chosen to receive test kits because of high COVID transmission rates.
The OVP had previously allotted almost P5 million each for Iloilo COVID-19 laboratory and Amai Pakpak Hospital in Lanao del Sur while P2.5 million worth of test kits were given to the Iloilo Provincial Hospital.
“So habang nagta-typhoon relief and rehab(ilitation) efforts tayo, iyong COVID-19 operations tuloy-tuloy pa rin (So while we conduct our typhoon relief and rehabilitation efforts, we continue our COVID-19 operations),” she said.
Just last week, Robredo was in her hometown of Naga City, Camarines Sur for the groundbreaking of a RT-PCR molecular laboratory, which was partly funded by her office.
The construction of the laboratory seeks to speed up testing capabilities in the Bicol region.
Robredo has expressed her support for mass testing as part of the efforts in beating the pandemic.