TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The full blast operation of the city-owned molecular laboratory significantly reduced the turn-around time in the release of swab test results not only from the city but also the whole province and nearby communities.
Mayor Darwin C. Estran͂ero reported that swab specimens being submitted to the molecular laboratory for confirmatory tests in the morning are released in the afternoon that allows health workers to be able to implement the appropriate interventions on suspected and probable Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients that are required to undergo the required reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
He added that swab samples from the different parts of the province and nearby municipalities and provinces in the Cagayan Valley are now being brought to the city-owned molecular laboratory for confirmatory test as the same is nearer compared to the previous arrangement that said samples are being brought to the Cagayan Valley medical Center in Tuguegarao City, a government facility in Ilagan City, Isabela and at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), the designated sub-national testing center in Northern Luzon.
The city-owned molecular laboratory is operating on a limited basis although the local government is contemplating on allowing some of the city’s medical technologists to undergo the required training with the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to increase the operating hours and capacity of the laboratory.
Earlier, the local government earmarked some P15 million for the put up of the city-owned molecular laboratory to significantly reduce the turn-around time in the release of swab test results because of the distance between the city and the nearest testing center.
Last month, the health department issued the license to operate to the city government for this molecular laboratory after the required trainings for the assigned personnel and the proficiency tests of the use of the RT-PCR test machines.
Tabuk City has the distinction of being the first local government unit to put up the first LGU-operated and owned molecular laboratory which is now operational and beneficial to the greater interest of the residents needing to undergo the required RT-PCR test to ascertain their present health condition.
Mayor Estran͂ero pointed out that since what matters is the health and safety of the city’s residents, the local government is doing its best to maximize the use of available funds for the health and safety of the people and for them to be spared from contracting the deadly virus and prevent the local health care system from being compromised and the frontliners from being stressed.
At present, the city’s population is more than 115,000 distributed in some 43 barangays. By HENT
