LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap disclosed that the newly established molecular laboratory of the Benguet General Hospital (BeGH) is only awaiting the issuance of the license to operate anytime by the health department prior before it goes in full operation.
Yap, who chairs the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, said that the upcoming operation of the molecular laboratory will definitely improve the turnaround time in the release of swab test results coming from the different municipalities so that the concerned local governments can institute the necessary strategies that will prevent the transmission of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the province.
Earlier, Congressman Yap personally shelled out his personal resources for the immediate construction of the structure for the molecular laboratory and the provision of the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and automated extraction machines with the required consumables for the supposed operation of the facility.
The lawmaker added that the health workers who will operating the facility were already trained by the Manila-based Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) in preparation for its operation that is vital in improving the testing of possible, suspected and probable COVID cases to abate the number of cases that can congest the health care facilities and isolation units in the province.
According to him, it is important for the municipalities to sustain the testing of possible, suspected and probable COVID cases as this will help in deterring the community transmission of the virus and affect the efforts of the local governments to revive the economy in their areas of jurisdiction.
Congressman Yap previously donated to the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), the designated sub-national testing laboratory in Northern Luzon, a RT-PCR and automated extraction machine to improve the turnaround time in the release of swab test results compared to manual operations.
For the molecular laboratory at the BeGH, Yap procured similar machines.
He appealed to the local officials who are eagerly awaiting the operation of the facility to patiently wait as his office is following up the matter with the health department so that once operational, the testing at the facility BGHMC can be decongested.
The BeGH molecular laboratory was built within the compound of the government-operated hospital to provide testing services for the detection of possible, suspected and probable COVID cases for immediate tracing and isolation of their close contacts. By HENT
