2 more PCR machines arrive in Bicol but testing center machine damaged

LEGAZPI CITY –– Two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines needed to process specimens from suspected coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients have arrived in Legazpi City in Albay on Tuesday.

On May 3, the Legazpi City council approved the purchase of a PCR machine and testing kits at P10 million, but the city was able to purchase an additional machine through a group that Mayor Noel Rosal did not identify.

Rosal said the two machines could process up to 600 tests daily.

He said the PCR machines would be used at the Bicol Regional Diagnostic and Reference Laboratory (BRDRL) through a memorandum of agreement because they already have an accredited testing center.

“If we (Legazpi City) use this, it will take time,” he said.

Before this, BRDRL, the region’s lone testing center, had a single PCR machine that could conduct an average of 50 tests daily.

“We need this especially since we are now under general community quarantine (GCQ),” Rosal said. “Let me just remind everyone that we should not be too complacent.”

Albay province shifted from enhanced community quarantine to GCQ on May 16.

However, BRDRL cannot conduct COVID-19 tests yet due to a damaged biological safety cabinet (BSC), an air filtration-equipped machine used in processing samples for PCR tests.

The machine’s exhaust duct was damaged after Typhoon “Ambo” (international name: Vongfong) swept through the Bicol region on May 15.

The Department of Health Bicol said a team from Manila would arrive Wednesday to fix the damaged exhaust duct.

LZB