The 14th molecular laboratory of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) passed the efficiency test set by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
The PRC Cotabato City-Maguindanao molecular laboratory passed the proficiency test of RITM last Oct. 1 --- making it the 14th molecular laboratory in the country that is capable of processing 2,000 tests per day.
The new molecular laboratory is in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and will serve Maguindanao, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, and Davao City.
“Naghihintay na lamang tayo ng license to operate mula sa Department of Health upang masimula na ang pag-tetest natin sa mga kababayan natin (We are just waiting for the license to operate to issued by the Department of Health so we can start testing our our fellowmen),” PRC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senator Dick Gordon said.
“Now, the capacity of Cotabato Regional and Medical Center is only 200 tests per day but through the new Molecular Laboratory, this will further hasten our COVID-19 response and can test up to 2,000 tests per day,” he explained in a mix of English and Filipino.
As of Oct. 20, PRC tested a total of 4,682,077.
Of over 281 molecular laboratories in the country, PRC has the biggest output of any organization representing 22 percent of the national testing output.
PRC Molecular Laboratories currently has an average of 360,000 tests per month compared with only 66,000 for government labs and 40,000 for private labs.
Since PRC molecular laboratories are fully automated, the output is five times more than the regular manual laboratories.
PRC also ramps up its vaccination efforts nationwide to get more people inoculated as soon as possible through the “Bakuna Centers” and PRC “Bakuna Buses” having vaccinated over 331,609 individuals.