Incumbent Senator and Philippine Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon hopes that the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) would soon provide a recommendation to the Department of Health to allow more cost-effective, saliva-based COVID-19 tests in the country.
“Health Technology Assessment Council ang nag-e-examine. It’s taking them a long time, Oct. 17 pa sinubmit ‘yan at ginagamit na din ‘yan sa ibang bansa. Over one million Covid testing has been done using that, and has 99.9 percent accuracy,” said Sen. Gordon.
Sen. Gordon furthered that the machines used for the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) but that this method of testing will skip the painful nasal swab tests for residents who wish to find out their results. This will also be more cost-effective for the government and the public since it doesn’t require nose and mouth swabs, as per reports from the Philippine News Agency.
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“Mas madali ito dahil hindi na kailangan ng swab sa ilong at lalamunan. Kailangan lang dumura sa test tube. Mas mabilis din mapa-process at mailalabas ang results. Walang machines na bibilhin at matatanggal din ang test kits kaya mababawasan din ang presyo ng testing. Hindi mabigat para sa ating mga kababayan na gustong magbayad dahil mas mura. Ganun din ang PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation), bababa ang kanilang gastusin na babayaran sa testing,” explained Sen. Gordon.
HTAC is an independent advisory body created with the overall role of providing guidance to the DOH and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on the coverage of health interventions and technologies to be funded by the government.
It is mandated to undertake technology appraisals by determining their clinical and economic values in the Philippine healthcare system, to improve overall health outcomes and ensure fairness, equity, and sustainability of coverage for all Filipino citizens.
READ ON: PH keen on implementing saliva-based COVID-19 tests
Recently, the University of Illinois launched a Manhattan Project–style effort to create a cheaper, faster Covid test.
After running a successful pilot of the saliva test during the early part of the summer, the university conducted more than 1 million Covid tests during the recently-completed fall semester. The alternative delivers a result within hours rather than days at a total cost of USD20 (PHP960) per test and is 99.9 percent accurate on specificity.
