Two hospitals in Dumaguete City are applying with the Department of Health as accredited testing centers for CoViD- 19 cases in Negros Oriental.
The local hospitals are the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital, and the Silliman University Medical Center Foundation Inc.
Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Bustamante-Estacion, who also heads the health committee of the Province’s Inter-Agency Task Force, said they are fast-tracking compliance of requirements so that the NOPH can be certified as a CoViD-19 testing center.
With the accreditation of the Provincial Hospital, laboratory test results of suspected CoViD-19 patients here will be released on “real-time”, faster than the current pace, Estacion said.
Currently, the turn-around time for throat swab test results is 48 hours, from the time the samples are received at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City, the nearest CoViD-19 testing facility in the Region, she said.
Estacion said throat swab samples have a shelf life of 72 hours, and therefore, have to be received at the laboratory within three days.
Given the limited sea travel between here and Cebu due to the enhanced community quarantine imposed in Negros Oriental and in Cebu, the samples are sent via the “slow boat” that takes about six to eight hours of travel.
She said there were times they requested a Coast Guard vessel to pick up the samples from Negros Oriental.
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Once the NOPH becomes a DOH-accredited facility, it will be using the real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRt-PCR) test kits which are more accurate than the rapid testing kits, she said.
The Philippines had received its first PCR testing kits from the World Health Organization, and are being used at the VSMMC, she added.
Estacion said while the rapid testing kits are much cheaper, they are only 40 percent accurate compared to the laboratory-based PCR testing.
Three nurses will be trained to do the PCR testing here in preparation for the DOH-accreditation.
She added that a laboratory will be set up at the NOPH solely dedicated to Covid-19 testing and assured the public that proper protocols shall be adopted, particularly providing laboratory personnel with the necessary personal protective equipment.
Meanwhile, Estacion said there is no word yet as to how the PCR kits will be procured, whether it will be provided by the DOH for free, or that the provincial government will have to purchase these.
All other concerns on the accreditation will be known in the coming days, she said. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
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