By Emme Rose Santiagudo
The Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) in Mandurriao district is now being eyed as the official testing center for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
According to Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna, focal person of the Iloilo City COVID-19 Task Force, WVMC has submitted its application for accreditation to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
“We are still waiting for the results of their evaluation until now. We want to know if the WVMC is capable to serve as a testing center. We hope it will be approved,” he said on Monday.
According to Fortuna, Western Visayas lacks a testing facility for COVID-19.
In the country, the RITM, with the assistance of the World Health Organization (WHO) has been capacitating five subnational laboratories for diagnosing COVID-19:
-San Lazaro Hospital and Lung Center of the Philippines in Manila
-Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center in Northern Luzon
-Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu, City and
-Southern Philippines Medical Center in Mindanao.
“Unlike dengue when we had an ample supply of test kits because these are just easy test kits, however for COVID-19, the testing facilities are being accredited by the RITM and now we only have five,” Fortuna said.
Mayor Jerry Treñas also supported the call for accreditation of WVMC, adding that the long period of referrals and testing of the samples can be a huge concern in the region.
“We have no accredited hospitals here in the region. Once I exhibit the signs, I will have to go through the health center, then to the hospital until my specimen will be sent to Manila or Cebu for testing. I have to wait for several days again for the result of my tests. It’s a very long process,” he lamented on Tuesday.
The city government is currently monitoring 82 persons under monitoring (PUMs) in Iloilo City who are mostly overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and had travel history from China, Hong Kong, Macau and other countries with confirmed COVID-19 cases.
“They are considered PUMs. We are asking them to go on quarantine and once they exhibit signs and symptoms then they will be referred to the proper hospital,” Treñas added.
The mayor also appealed to the Department of Health (DOH) to provide test kits not only in Western Visayas but also in the different regions as concerns over COVID-19 continue to heighten.
“I am speaking for the rest of Western Visayas. We don’t have any test kits here. I am speaking to the DOH and I think it is your responsibility to provide test kits to all the regions. We in the LGUs are doing our job and the DOH should do the same, it is a matter of right,” he stressed.
Recently, the city government announced the cancellation of moving up ceremonies for day care schools in the metro including other scheduled major events amid the concerns over COVID-19.
