BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The testing capacity of this city and Negros Occidental for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is expected to expand after the Philippine Red Cross formally opened a molecular laboratory that can process up to 1,400 samples in a day.
The new facility, located at the corner of 10th and 11th Lacson streets, is the fifth COVID-19 molecular laboratory in the province, according to Jay Jalandoni, PRC-Negros Occidental Governor.
Jalandoni said the molecular lab has “state-of-the-art” equipment capable of handling a total of 1,400 tests in 24 hours.
“It is easy to put up a structure, however, what we made here is we looked at the flow of the people, the samples and those working in the facility are in a safe environment,” he added.
Jalandoni also boasted the facility’s safety and security features such as having its own dormitory which will house the laboratory’s medical technicians and minimizes the risk of contracting COVID-19.
He explained the rooms were also designed as negative pressure rooms which vacuums the contaminated air going through filters and ultra-violet lights which kills any contaminants in the air before its pumped outside.
As for security, the facility uses facial and thumbprint recognition, meaning outsiders cannot enter the premises unless they are in the main database.
Jalandoni said with the opening of the new facility, they may be able to accommodate the tests being carried out not just in Negros Occidental, but in neighboring Negros Oriental and even Iloilo.
He said the facility is also the second molecular lab in the Visayas, with the first being located in Cebu City.
Currently, the fee for getting an individual reverse polymerase chain reaction test in Bacolod City is at P4,000./PN
