BACOLOD City – To test more patient samples for possible coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, the city government here allotted P20 million to put up a biology laboratory at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH).
This facility will be dedicated to COVID-19 patients from Bacolod and from the province of Negros Occidental, according to Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
This is a city initiative to partner with Dr. Julius Drilon, CLMMRH chief, who was also urging this biolab project.
Considering the dire need for this facility, Leonardia said he could no longer wait for the response of the Department of Health (DOH) in Manila. He earlier appealed to the agency to build a biolab in this City just like what it did in the cities of Iloilo and Cebu.
Leonardia is confident that Drilon will take care of complying with all necessary protocols on the project as well as installing this biolab at the CLMMRH within the next 45-60 days.
The decision was also made after Leonardia learned yesterday (April 2, 2020) in a phone call to Dr. Stephanie Abello, chief Pathologist of the DOH biolab at the Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City, that said facility is able to process only about 100 specimens during a 12-hour shift. Even if that is doubled, the Iloilo biolab can, therefore, handle only about 200 specimens in a day. “If that Iloilo biolab is to serve the entire Western Visayas or Region 6, then that capacity is sorely inadequate”, said Leonardia.
In the meantime, Bacolod will continue to get its supply of swab test kits for specimen-collection from DOH Region 6, for processing at the biolab in Iloilo, which is the current protocol.
As of Thursday, Bacolod has a total of 34 PUIs admitted since February 2.
Of the number, 27 have been discharged while three are still confined in isolation. The remaining four are those who already died.
Out of the 34 PUIs, 24 tested negative for COVID-19 while six had positive results. Two still have pending results while tests on two others were not yet done.
In Bacolod, a total of 2,253 persons under monitoring (PUMs) have been reported, of which 1,597 have completed home quarantine.
A total of 615 PUMs are currently being monitored.
On Wednesday, the 38 PUMs from Bacolod placed under a 14-day home quarantine in Mambukal Resort, have been cleared of COVID-19 infection and were brought to their respective homes. (With PNA/PN)
