By Jhon Aldrin Casinas  The Marikina city COVID-19 testing center is expected to get its coveted accreditation on April 21, Tuesday, said Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III. Marikina COVID-19 Testing Center (Photo via Aldrin Casinas / MANILA BULLETIN) “Monday ‘yung kanyang proficiency testing ay matatapos na. So, malamang ito mga Tuesday okay na, puwede nang patakbuhin. Bibigyan na ng accreditation certificate (Their proficiency test will end on Monday. So most likely on Tuesday, it will already be okay, it will be allowed to operate. It will be given its accreditation certificate),” Duque told reporters. Duque visited the testing center—a two-story building located at Barangay Concepcion Uno—for the first time on April 17, Friday, saying that it “is one of the best laboratories” he has seen. “Okay naman, maganda. It is one of the best laboratories I’ve seen. Mukhang magandang-maganda ang pagkakagawa, maayos ang layout, talagang sinunod ang mga equipment, ang furnishing tastefully executed (It seems it was constructed well, the layout was followed as well as the equipment, the furnishing was tastefully executed),” country’s health chief said. Duque hopes the Marikina COVID-19 testing center will become a model for other local governments to further prevent the spread of the dreaded disease. “Sana maging modelo ito sa mga ibang local government units upang mapaigting o mapalawig ang testing capacity (I hope this will serve as a model for other local government units to improve their testing capacities),” he said. For nearly a month, the planned mass testing of Marikina city has been delayed after the DOH rejected the city’s initial proposal for a COVID-19 testing center. The facility was previously set up at the sixth floor of the City Health Office. After an assessment, the DOH earlier said the city’s testing center needed “further enhancement and adhere with the existing standards for biosafety and biosecurity.” The Health department noted that the facility should also be transferred to a separate location. The local government has identified the current location for the testing center, equipped with “state-of-the-art” equipment. According to Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro, the facility has the capacity of testing 400 to 500 samples per day. “Malaking tulong ito sa target ng national na 8,000 a day na testing (This is will be a big help for the national government’s 8000 tests per day target),” Teodoro said, noting that mass testing is a “crucial strategy to finally flatten the curve” and stop the further spread of the disease. Teodoro earlier said the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines, biosafety cabinet, robotic extraction machines were already installed at the facility and were now “fully calibrated.” Now that the testing center is expected to get its accreditation by next week, Duque said the facility will be a big help to the residents of Marikina. “Hindi na kailangan lumayo pa, nandito na, malapit na. Magandang serbisyo ito sa mga mamamayan ng Marikina (They no longer need to go anywhere else. It’s here and it will operate soon. This is a great service for the residents of Marikina),” he said. Teodoro said the testing facility’s health personnel are currently finishing their required training. He said the training was supposed to be scheduled next week, but because of the intervention of the Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), with the help of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año, it was moved to an earlier date. The local chief executive thanked the IATF-EID, particularly Año and Medialdea, for their support.