Marikina gov’t to open COVID-19 testing center sans DOH approval

MANILA, Philippines — Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro on Tuesday announced the scheduled opening on Friday of the city’s testing center for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) even without the permission of the Department of Health (DOH).

A press statement from the local government unit (LGU) read that the mayor “invoked his local autonomy over the matter” in making this move.

“The DOH has been contacted several times by the city government for it to check the new facility, but its team did not arrive,” read the statement.

According to the LGU, Teodoro signed a memorandum of agreement with Manila HealthTek, Inc. to order 3,000 additional testing kits, on top of the first 3,000 kits purchased by the city.

Minutes after the mayor announced the scheduled opening of the testing center, a team from the DOH arrived to inspect the facility, according to the Marikina City local government.

Marikina City earlier planned to set up a testing site either on the sixth floor of the Marikina City Health Office or inside the state-run Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, but health authorities thumbed down these locations saying it did not pass space and biosafety standards.

The LGU later identified a two-storey building along Bayan-Bayanan Avenue in Barangay Concepcion Uno as the new site for local COVID-19 testing. The structure has a floor area of 160 square meters and is located in a not-so populated area in the city. It also has no other offices sharing the building.

As of 3 p.m. Monday, Marikina City has already recorded 59 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of this number, 14 have died and six patients have recovered.

Edited by JPV