Maynilad builds COVID-19 testing center
Published Jun 11, 2020 12:00 am
By Madelaine B. Miraflor
West Zone concessionaire and Pangilinan-led Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) has started building a COVID-19 testing and laboratory center, which will be operational in two months.
To be built in partnership with De los Santos Medical Center (DLSMC), which is also part of the Manuel V. Pangilinan’s (MVP) group of companies, the P15-million facility will conduct and process Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests for suspected COVID-19 patients.
RT-PCR is the standard testing procedure recommended by the World Health Organization in detecting COVID-19.
Once operational in August, the testing center, which will be located at the DLSMC complex, will have the capacity to test and process swab samples from about 200 patients daily.
As of May, there are only 30 RT-PCR laboratories in the country licensed by the Department of Health.
With the construction of the Maynilad-DLSMC RT-PCR Testing Center, the continuous processing and release of COVID-19 confirmatory test results can be facilitated.
Right now, Maynilad continues to implement several relief activities for frontliners and urban poor communities during the pandemic, including the distribution of hygiene kits, sanitation tents and drinking water, as well as the provision of free water supply for several quarantine facilities in Metro Manila.
DLSMC is part of the Metro Pacific Hospitals Holdings, Inc. (MPHHI), the hospital arm of Pangilinan.
In May, Pangilinan said he wants to increase the COVID-19 testing capacity of MPHHI as the group anticipates a second surge of positive cases after the Philippine government began easing lockdown restrictions.
“I feel hospital laboratories are the key in this fight against COVID-19, and what MPHHI is doing right now is on the right track—utilizing its advantage as the top tier nationwide hospital network to back up the Philippine testing effort by helping set up these facilities, and manning them as quickly as possible,” Pangilinan, chairman of MPIC, said.
He also pointed out that there is no other way to beat the virus except through more testing and adequate laboratory support since there is still no vaccine against COVID-19.