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Lack of supply, infected personnel prompt RITM to downscale temporarily

Philippines | National

Lack of supply, infected personnel prompt RITM to downscale temporarily

By Analou de Vera

The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, the country's prime reference laboratory for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), announced that it will temporarily scale down its operations due to infected personnel and supply shortage.

(RITM / MANILA BULLETIN)

RITM Director Celia Carlos said that they will limit their laboratory operations until Saturday, July 18.

“Please bear with us for the next few days as we conduct full servicing of equipment, decontamination of facilities, and the urgent testing of our staff," Carlos said in a statement.

"These measures are being done to ensure that we are fully armed and healthy to continue performing our tests safely and accurately. It is an uphill climb responding to this public health emergency, but please trust that our commitment to serve does not waver,” she added.

Carlos said that they will only accept specimens from admitted patients within their “testing zone.” Some specimens will be sent to other accredited COVID-19 testing facilities in order to decrease their backlogs and not to prolong the turnaround time.

Currently, Carlos said that 31 RITM staff have tested positive for the disease. Ten remain symptomatic but are in stable condition, while the others are “in their recovery state “ and just awaiting the result of their repeat tests.

“We wanted to consistently deliver our best despite the mounting challenges, but it was at the expense of our weakening manpower,” said Carlos.

“If our machines can give for long periods of 24/7 high throughput testing, our people can be worn down as well. This scale down also provides us the opportunity to take care of our own,” she added.

RITM also limited their laboratory operations last April after 43 personnel tested positive for COVID-19.

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