About 30,000 of the total 40,000 test kits for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have already arrived in Cebu this week.
This is to aid the now operational subnational laboratory in the Visayas which is the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City.
Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino said the 20,000 test kits were purchased by the Cebu City government while the other 20,000 kits were donated by the Cristina Lee Dino Foundation and Mr. Kim Wong, who is a good friend of the official.
“It will not just be for the Cebuanos but also for Region 6 and Region 8,” he told reporters.
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On Thursday, VSMMC and other three subnational laboratories in the Philippines became operational.
Apart from these test kits, personal protective equipment (PPEs) and alcohol were also donated by the foundation to equip frontliners in Cebu and the Visayas.
In a separate interview, Dr. Jaime Bernadas, regional director of the Department of Health Central Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD 7), said VSMMC is the sole accredited hospital in the Visayas to run the tests for now.
VSMMC, according to Bernadas, is equipped with the polymerase chain reaction machine to do the testing.
Previously, it takes at least a week for the results to be known since it has to be sent to Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila.
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Now, it would only take 72 hours or 3 days to get the results, the DOH-CHD 7 director revealed.
Bernadas added samples from other areas in Visayas like Tacloban City and Iloilo have also arrived and are set for processing.
DOH-7 has agreed with the Philippine Air Force and Philippine Coast Guard to help them in transporting the said specimens.
