Cagayan de Oro mayor warns firms, private doctors vs antibody testing

(FILES) Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno. Jigger J. Jerusalem/Inquirer Mindanao

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY –– Mayor Oscar Moreno warned private companies and clinics conducting rapid diagnostic tests on their employees without coordinating with health authorities.

Moreno issued the warning following reports that seven workers of a big corporation here tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) but were sent home without follow-up PCR tests.

The mayor warned that companies conducting testing on their employees without informing government health agencies about it would be held liable under existing laws.

Seven employees of major telecommunications companies here were tested positive for antibodies using the rapid antibody tests done by private medical diagnostic laboratories.

Moreno was reportedly irked when he learned that employees, who tested positive, were sent home without undergoing isolation and the confirmatory Xpert Express PCR test.

Moreno said the telecom companies and private laboratories did not inform the local health authorities and city government of the tests.

“It is irresponsible for them to conduct the tests and to just leave the employees to fend for themselves,” Moreno said.

Dr. Joselito Retuya, epidemiologist of Cagayan de Oro City Health Office, said they learned about the incident only after one of the seven employees told health workers of Barangay Agusan, where he lived, that he tested positive in the antibody tests.

Retuya said the companies and laboratories should have informed the City Health Office so that the employees could be given confirmatory tests through Xpert Express PCR.

Word about the seven employees, who tested positive, quickly spread through the social network, alarming residents here.

“These companies are reckless. What they have done can spread the virus in the city,” Moreno said, warning at least three private diagnostic laboratories that their business licenses could be revoked.

He also demanded from the telecom companies to explain why they conducted the tests without informing authorities here.

Moreno said these companies and laboratories violated some provisions of the Republic Act 11469 or “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.”

“They should have followed the protocol,” Moreno said.

Retuya said they already wrote the privately-run testing laboratories advising them to inform the city health office when they conduct rapid tests.

Although the workers tested positive, Retuya said their results were not yet conclusive. They would still be subjected to the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests to confirm the presence of the SARS-CoV2 virus, which causes the disease.

He said the patients had been brought to the city isolation unit, their swab samples already taken from them. They are now awaiting results.

LZB