The Cagayan Valley Medical Center (CVMC) inaugurated yesterday the first-ever COVID-19 Testing Center Molecular Laboratory in the region to use Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machine which has the capacity to test 200 specimens in a day.

“Finally, we are ready to conduct testing as soon as we receive our License to Operate (LTO),” Medical Center Chief Dr. Glenn Mathew Baggao said. 

The presence of RT-PCR machine one bought by CVMC and one-unit donation from the Philippine Business for Social Progress plus another unit to arrive from the Department of Health (DOH), will help facilitate testing in the region, Baggao said.

It should be recalled that aside from the manpower who were sent for training in Baguio City in previous months, there are additional 25 medical technologists funded by DOH, eight laboratory technicians and 10 administrative assistants who will be manning the laboratory.

Baggao thanked the Philippine Charity Sweepstake Office (PCSO) Cagayan Chapter for the P30 million financial support to CVMC which was used for the construction of the building and procurement of needed equipment.

In April 2020, Heherson Pambid, PCSO Cagayan branch manager personally awarded the check to Baggao.

Baggao also takes pride that the newly inaugurated laboratory is one of the best testing labs in the country reechoing the feedback of the members of the assessment team from DOH central office and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
Baggao believes that the presence of the second COVID-19 testing laboratory in Cagayan Valley - next to the laboratory located at the DOH regional office here, will facilitate fast release of test results of COVID suspects.

“We are not competing with other laboratories. Our goal is to augment testing conducted by the DOH here and we look forward for faster releasing of results as there are now two laboratories in the region,” Baggao added.

Meanwhile, Dr. Jane Pagaddu, chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratories of CVMC expressed gratitude to the DOH central and regional office, to the RITM, the nameless people, organizations and individuals behind the establishment of the laboratory making it one of the major breakthroughs of CVMC.

Once the laboratory is given a license to operate, it is expected to operate 24/7 as they have already trained medical technologists to man it. (MDCT/GVB/PIA 2-Cagayan)

source: pia.gov.ph