Negros Oriental now has 2 machines to detect COVID-19

LOOK: (right to left) Governor Roel Degamo, Negros Oriental IATF ground commander Dr. Liland Estacion, and provincial molecular laboratory head Dr. Nikko Paolo Cablao receive the RT-PCR testing machines donated by the Energy Development Corporation. Raffy Cabristante

DUMAGUETE CITY –– Negros Oriental can now do its polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests to diagnose COVID-19 patients after obtaining its first two testing machines.

The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) on Tuesday turned over its donation of testing machines to the provincial government of Negros Oriental.

The machines, which can do up to 500 swab tests daily, will be used for the province’s molecular laboratory at the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital.

Gov. Roel Degamo said the laboratory is 95 percent complete.

Once the molecular laboratory is up and running, Negros Oriental residents can expect quicker swab test results as samples need not be sent to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.

The EDC donation, which consists of the testing machines and other equipment necessary for testing, is worth P8.5 million.

Dr. Liland Estacion, Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) ground commander, said once the testing machines are operational, locally stranded individuals (LSI) and returning overseas Filipinos from Negros Oriental may be tested for free.

Negros Oriental repatriates are required to undergo swab testing upon arrival in the province.

On the other hand, private individuals who need their swab test results for work and travel outside the province or the country need to pay for their tests.

Dr. Nikko Paolo Cablao, head of the NOPH molecular laboratory, told reporters that the initial estimated prices for private individual testing range from P2,500 to P3,000.

This, he said, is much cheaper compared to the swab tests being done by private hospitals in Manila.

However, Estacion said that it would be up to the provincial IATF to decide on the final prices for swab testing.

Cablao said the Negros Oriental provincial molecular laboratory is expected to have nine staff members, most of them medical technologists who would analyze and interpret the swab tests.

Estacion said that with the opening of Negros Oriental’s testing laboratory, Degamo and the mayors of the province’s 25 cities and towns were expected to discuss the possibility of mass testing.

She noted that if the province-wide mass testing pushes through, they may do it by congressional district to avoid backlogs. Negros Oriental has three districts.

The arrival of the new RT-PCR testing machines came a day after Negros Oriental inaugurated its COVID-19 isolation facility, also located within the compound of the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital.

The facility was built in 60 days with a budget of P46 million, the funds of which were taken from a national government grant under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.

LZB