Marikina mayor hits delayed approval of COVID-19 testing lab

MANILA, Philippines — Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro on Tuesday rued that the Department of Health (DOH)  has yet to approve the operation of the local government’s molecular laboratory which will confirm cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“Sabi sakin babalikan nila [DOH] ako. Matapos ang ilang araw gagawan ng report pa-pa-abrub pa nila sa namamahala”  Teodoro said in an interview on dzMM.

(I was told by DOH that will get back to me.  Afte a few days, they will make a report and have it approved by concerned officials.)

“Ang feeling ko we are treated as an applicant for a license to operate. They (DOH) should not treat us as an applicant kundi partners sa local government,” he added.

(I feel that we are being treated as an applicant for a license to operate. The DOH should not treat us like applicants but as partners in local government.)

Teodoro underscored that establishment of the city’s testing center should be expedited because the laboratory will be used for COVID-19 testing of local residents,  especially for the poor.

“Mahalaga yung testing para sa amin. Access ito ng ordinaryong Filipino, hindi yung mga may kaya. ‘Yung may mga kaya  pwede pumunta sa mga pribadong ospital para mag-pa-test,” Teodoro said.

(Testing is important to us, this will be made accessible to ordinary Filipinos, not those who are well-off who  can afford to get tested in private hospitals.)

Teodoro said the city has over 212 persons under monitoring for COVID-19 who need t0o be tested.

The local government also procured around 3,000 testing kits developed by the University of the Philippines (UP) – National Institutes of Health.

GSG