42 Pampanga hospital workers undergo swab tests every 2 weeks as health protocol

Forty-two medical staff of the city government-run Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center in Angeles City undergo swab tests every two weeks to ensure their readiness to handle patients infected with the novel coronavirus. (Contributed)

ANGELES CITY –– Forty-two medical staff handling coronavirus-infected patients at the city government-run Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center (RLMMC) here are subjected to swab tests every two weeks, local officials said.

The tests became regular as 24 new infections in the last four days increased the COVID-19 cases in the city to 115, Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr. said on Tuesday.,

The RLMMC, formerly the Ospital Ning Angeles, is treating COVID-19 patients.

“The tests are done to monitor the health of the medical staff and to ensure the readiness of [RLMMC] in accepting more COVID-19 patients,” Dr. Froilan Canlas, officer-in charge of RLMMC, said in a statement.

In a phone interview, Lazatin said he asked private hospitals to provide temporary housing, free food, regular swab tests, and Special Risk Allowance to those assigned to COVID-19 wards.

LZB