Cebu execs seek suppliers of COVID-19 test kits

CEBU CITY, CEBU, Philippines — Cebu officials are looking for companies that could provide test kits to expedite the results of persons being investigated for the novel coronavirus or COVID-19.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said the provincial government has the available funds but they have yet to find a supplier of legitimate test kits approved by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).

The governor said there were also plans for Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Diño to tap the help of the South Korean consul general to get supplies from South Korea.

“The province is willing to spend to purchase these test kits,” said Garcia.

“There is a supplier, but we need to review his papers if they are approved in its country of origin and if it will also fit the standards and approval of the FDA here in the Philippines,” she added.

Garcia said the provincial government would tap its calamity funds because the province had already been placed under a state of preparedness in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said there are also private companies that were already offering funds to purchase the test kits as their contribution to the government’s fight against the virus.

In Cebu City, Mayor Edgardo Labella said purchasing test kits was one of their priorities in the fight against the COVID-19.

“Test kits are the most important thing for us to be able to test our residents,” he said.

Labella said they wanted to make sure that the test kits to be purchased would be 100 percent accurate.

The mayor said Cebu City remained free of COVID-19 despite the death of a person under investigation at a private hospital here on Sunday morning.

The 27-year-old female patient died while waiting for the results of her swab test for the COVID-19 which were sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City in Metro Manila.

Governor Garcia called on the Department of Health (DOH) to fulfill its promise of making Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City a regional testing site for COVID-19.

“Up to now, it remains to be a name, not actual operation. I hope they make good on that promise,” Garcia said.

The (VSMMC), a DOH-managed hospital, was earlier identified as a sub-national level testing laboratory, which meant they were capable of administering COVID-19 tests.

At present, Central Visayas has 52 persons under investigation for the COVID-19.

/atm