Physician Tricia Robredo, one of Vice President Leni Robredo’s daughters, was one of the volunteer swabbers in the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) free mobile antigen testing project.
In a Facebook post, the vice president said several people sent her photos of Tricia doing the swab test on the patients on the second day of the Swab Cab project in Malabon City, where the program was piloted.
Malabon City Mayor Lenlen Oreta also posted a photo of Robredo’s daughter, who passed the physician licensure exam last year, doing the swabbing.
“Nagulat ako ng malaman ko na si Dra. Tricia Robredo ang attending doctor sa ginawang SWAB CAB kanina (I was surprised when I learned that Dra. Tricia Robredo was the attending doctor in the SWAB CAB earlier),” he said.
The vice president had also previously shared some snaps of Tricia while doing her rounds of patients in the hospital. She was seen wearing full-gear personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect her from contracting COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Robredo reported that of the 711 who were tested on the second day of the Swab Cab project, 46 turned out positive.
That brought the total positive cases that the Swab Cab antigen kits detected to 80. Those who tested positive will immediately be brought to an isolation facility by a standby ambulance.
“Of those who tested negative but are displaying symptoms, a confirmatory RT-PCR test will be conducted tomorrow,” the lady official said.
Robredo earlier clarified that the aim of the Swab Cab project was to do “surveillance testing” even as the Department of Health (DOH) already included positive antigen results in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
“The good thing about swab antigen tests is results are out in 15 minutes. Whenever there is one who tests positive, an ambulance on standby brings him/her directly to a pre-designated isolation center. Then, contact tracing immediately ensues,” she said.
Treatment of COVID-19 positive patients is usually delayed because the patients and health workers have to wait for the result of the RT-PCR tests before the patients can be given the right level of care and treatment. The result of the RT-PCR test will take usually two to three days.
Robredo suggested to the national government to replicate the Swab Cab project especially in areas with high transmission rates.
The vice president once again thanked Oreta, the Swab Cab team, and the local government unit (LGU) of Malabon City “for this meaningful partnership.”
“Thank you most especially to the BHERTs (Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams) who did a great job in the immediate contact tracing,” Robredo said.
She also expressed her gratitude to the OVP’s private partners, Ube Express and Kaya Natin! Movement, for the support.