THE head of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) has raised several questions over the planned mass testing of 10,000 Covid-19 symptomatic individuals and closed contacts during the four-day “Timeout Weekend” set on August 28 to 31, 2020.
CLMMRH head Dr. Julius Drilon in a radio interview said while the proposed mass testing is a welcome development, he has a lot of concerns over the plan.
Drilon said former Congressman Alfredo Benitez did coordinate with him to conduct the mass testing but a formal meeting between them has not been made.
Timeout Weekend was jointly launched by Negros Occidental and Bacolod City officials on Saturday to address the spread of Covid-19.
He said officials who are leading the proposal should also consider the different machines used by the five laboratories in the province, as well as their capacity in releasing the results.
Further, Drilon revealed if machines are to be combined, they can only process around 1,700 tests per day.
He also questioned where the Covid-19 positive individuals will be brought and how contact tracing will be conducted.
Drilon also raised the need for additional medical technologists and encoders in order to hasten the release of the test results.
He added that the CLMMRH will not be able to accept the swab samples of 10,000 target individuals if the problem of supply and the lack of protective equipment are not addressed, pointing he doesn’t want to risk the safety of laboratory operators.
Benitez explained that consumables such as testing kits will be provided by the national government at an estimated cost of P35 million.
Discussion about this post