ILOILO CITY –– The Department of Health has issued a license to operate a COVID-19 testing laboratory in the capital city of Roxas in Capiz that is expected to fast-track testing and release of results in the province.
The Roxas City Diagnostic and Laboratory Center in Barangay Milibili is the 10th COVID-19 testing laboratory in Western Visayas that only had one laboratory in Iloilo City before the pandemic.
The laboratory that is capable of conducting reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), was put up by the Roxas City government and was set to be inaugurated on Oct. 20.
The 10 COVID-19 testing laboratories in Western Visayas include five government-operated and five in private hospitals and facilities.
In Iloilo, these include those at the Western Visayas Medical Center, Qualimed Health Network-Iloilo, and Metro Iloilo Hospital and Medical Center.
The laboratories in Negros Occidental are at the Teresita Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City and the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital, The Doctors Hospital, Inc., and Philippine Red Cross-Negros Occidental Molecular Laboratory, all in Bacolod City.
The COVID-19 laboratory in Aklan province is at the Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital in the capital town of Kalibo. Another COVID-19 laboratory put up by the Iloilo City government is expected to operate within the year.
The two-story building with an initial budget of P15 million is being constructed at a government lot in Molo District and will include the laboratory and dormitory for medical technologists.
It will have a total floor space of 720 square meters and will also have its own kitchen and pantry facilities.