ROXAS City – Private hospitals here can avail themselves of the services of the city government-run reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) laboratory for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-9) tests.
A memorandum of agreement for this was signed between the city government and the private hospitals yesterday.
According to Mayor Ronnie Dadivas, the Roxas City Diagnostic and Laboratory Center will make it faster to identify and act on confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The laboratory was inaugurated on Oct. 20.
“Ang mga pribado nga ospital makapasa sang specimen sang ila pasyenti sa Roxas City Diagnostic and Laboratory Center para sa madasig nga pagpaguwa sang resulta,” Dadivas said.
This is the first molecular laboratory in the province of Capiz, the 10th in the whole Western Visayas and the 112th in the country.
Dadivas said the facility is Roxas City’s “strong and concrete response” to the pandemic.
“Having our own testing center is the next best thing to a vaccine because this will facilitate efficient testing, contact tracing, and prevention of the spread of infection,” Dadivas said.
The inauguration and blessing of the city’s RT-PCR laboratory was held in the presence of Department of Health (DOH) regional director Marlyn Convocar; Office of Civil Defense (OCD) regional director Roberto Nuñez, chair of the Regional Task Force on COVID-19; and all the city’s partners in government and non-government organizations.
Convocar said the molecular laboratory has three purposes:
* diagnostic – to determine those who are positive for COVID-19 and their close contacts
* screening of people, especially those coming from high-risk areas
* surveillance – to determine the picture of COVID-19 at the population level through a random test
Dadivas said testing is free for the qualified and eligible, such as those with exposure to COVID-19 positive cases, and residents of Roxas City. Tourists and those who want to be tested for employment purposes have to pay.
As approved by the city council, the testing fee is P4,000 taking into account the expenses to be incurred in running the laboratory./PN
