(Eagle News) – The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) is set to open another bio-molecular laboratory, this time in Cebu City, which is currently still under the stricter protocols of Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) that will build testing capacity in the Central Visayas region, even as it announced plans to open 19 more laboratiories nationwide for COVID-19 testing,
PRC had already opened two testing centers in its national headquarters in Mandaluyong City that are both equipped with polymerase chain machines that can run up to a total of 8,000 tests a day. The PRC lab here has already been certified by the Department of Health for COVID-19 testing.
The first center is situated at its national headquarters in Mandaluyong City, while the second one is at the PRC’s Logistics Center located just behind its national headquarters.
molecular laboratory located at the PRC Hemodialysis Center at the Port Area in Manila on April 28, 2020. The
facility, which was constructed in two weeks, will be equipped with four sets of testing machines. This is an addition to
the first two COVID testing centers of the PRC which are now up and running. (Courtesy Philippine Red Cross)
The PRC’s testing capacity would expand to 20,000, with the opening of another testing center in Port Area, Manila this week and four others in Subic, Clark, Batangas and Los Banos in the next few weeks, it said.
As of May 17, the Department of Health said that the PRC lab on Port Area, Manila is currently in the stage 4 of the validation for COVID-19.
In a release, the PRC said that it is planning on opening at least 14 more bio-molecular laboratories throughout the entire country to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases that may emerge or re-emerge in the future.
PRC chair Senator Richard Gordon said that the opening of the bio-molecular lab in Cebu City with the help of the Security Bank Foundation’s P15 million donation, will help stem the spread of COVID-19 in Cebu City and the Central Visayas region.
He said that the new lab to be opened soon would build the testing capacity in the province of Cebu where almost 2,000 cases have been recorded as of May 12.
“We thank the Security Bank Foundation for making this generous donation. The need for testing cannot be over-emphasized in order to unmask the virus and prevent or control its spread. We are grateful that Security Bank Foundation partnered with us in this endeavour which would save the lives of our countrymen in the Central Visayas. Security Bank has always been one of the generous donors of the Red Cross,” Gordon said.
To help prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 in Central Visayas, Senator Richard J. Gordon, chairman and CEO of the Philippine Red Cross, said a bio-molecular laboratory in Cebu City will be opened soon with the help of Security Bank Foundation’s P15-million donation.
Gordon pointed out that with Cebu City located in Central Visayas, building a testing facility in the province would boost the capacity of the region, where almost 2,000 cases have been recorded as of May 12, to prevent the spread of the disease.
“We thank the Security Bank Foundation for making this generous donation. The need for testing cannot be over-emphasized in order to unmask the virus and prevent or control its spread. We are grateful that Security Bank Foundation partnered with us in this endeavour which would save the lives of our countrymen in the Central Visayas. Security Bank has always been one of the generous donors of the Red Cross,” he said.
The board of trustees of the Security Bank Foundation recently approved a P15-million donation to the PRC to set up a bio-molecular laboratory at the its chapter located along Osmena Boulevard, Cebu City. Security Bank has been a long-time regular donor of the Red Cross, according to a PRC release.
PRC is the only Red Cross national society with a bio-molecular laboratory system.
The DOH has certified 30 laboratories in the country for COVID-19 PCR tests.
(Eagle News Service)
