ILOILO City – The cheaper and less invasive saliva-based coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing is currently being offered as an alternative to the swabbing of nostrils or throat.
But only the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) is allowed to offer such service, according to the Department of Health (DOH) in Region 6.
“Other than PRC, no laboratories are allowed to do the saliva-based testing while ongoing ang aton IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) validation sa sini,” said Dr. Jane Juanico, spokesperson of DOH-6.
However, she clarified that saliva-based test is still a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test – it still uses a PCR machine, “naglain lang ang specimen nga ginagamit.”
Currently, said Juanico, the regional health office does not have guidelines on how to maximize saliva testing.
She also said they have yet to provide the necessary orientation and cascading of policies to local government units about saliva testing once guidelines are up.
Compared to the nasopharyngeal swab, wherein a sterile swab is inserted through a nostril and into the nasopharynx, the saliva test is considered less invasive, therefore, less painful if not totally painless.
Patients only have to spit into a sterile vial that will then be submitted to a PCR laboratory for analysis.
Countries like the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan have either approved or have been using saliva samples to test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
RED CROSS LAB IN PASSI
Since the last week of February 2021, over 4,000 saliva specimens have been processed in the molecular laboratory of the Red Cross at the Regional Logistics and Disaster Management Training Center in New Townsite, Barangay Sablogon, Passi City.
This was confirmed by former Health secretary Dr. Paulyn Ubial, head of the molecular laboratory, in an interview with Panay News.
“On the average, around 40 samples ang ma-process in a day. So, mga 4,000 pa lang ang na-test dira,” she said.
Ubial added that processing of saliva specimen also has a faster turn-around time of four hours.
The saliva COVID-19 test costs P2,000 while the nasopharyngeal swab RT-PCR test costs around P3,800 to P5,000, she also noted.
However, Ubial clarified that saliva testing is not yet covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) because “hindi pa na-undergo sa health technology assessment ng DOH.”
“But the cost of testing sa amin sa Red Cross is about 50 percent lower than the swab tests, and is as accurate,” Ubial added.
HOW IS IT DONE
Saliva testing is way faster and efficient. You can complete the process in just 30 minutes, Ubial said.
First, book online via 1158@redcross.org.ph and select as to where you would want your samples be collected.
Ubial noted: “Ang PRC-Iloilo chapter kag tanan nga chapters sa Panay ang naga-accept sang saliva samples, then sila na ang magapadala sa laboratory sa Passi. So, after they book and pay, they could go to the chapter office and mag-self collection sila.”
Do not eat, drink, gargle, smoke or vape for 30 minutes before the scheduled appointment, she added.
The patient shall personally attach a barcode (serves as identification) on the vial.
Ubial furthered that the saliva specimen has no expiration “wala man problema kon maligaran sang duha ukon tatlo ka adlaw antes ma-process”.
It won’t affect the result’s accuracy either, she added.
HOW ACCURATE IS IT
“Maraming studies na ang ginagawa and in fact we, at the Red Cross, we conducted our own study. We are doing parallel samples, and we can say that saliva testing has 98 percent accuracy,” Ubial said.
“Meaning, may ara lang duha ka sample sa every 100 nga hindi pareho ang result,” she added.
Everyone can undergo saliva testing but Ubial noted there were several local government units (LGUs) “ang wala pa nagabaton sang resulta sang saliva testing kay wala pa guidelines from DOH.”
Discussions are ongoing between the PRC and DOH as to when they could come up with the guidelines so the public can have the options.
Meantime, aside from saliva testing, the molecular laboratory in Passi City also caters nasopharyngeal swab RT-PCR test, wherein an average of 90 specimens per day can be processed.
“Less than 24 hours naman ang turn-around time sa pag-process sang swab test,” Ubial said.
Before Passi City, PRC’s molecular laboratory in Bacolod City has also been processing saliva samples.
The laboratory there can process up to 500 to 600 samples on the average.
Ubial also encouraged Ilonggos to pick saliva test as option.
“Amo ni ang testing nga fast, convenient, accurate, kag non-invasive,” Ubial stressed./PN
