Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda thanking Health Secretary Francisco Duque for the mass testing laboratory at the JBL hospital at the launching today. With them is hospital chief Dr. Monserrat Chichioco. Photo courtesy of Pampanga PIO
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Department of Health today handed the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital its License to Operate as Pandemic Sub-national Reference Laboratory in a simple launch and turn-over ceremony presided by Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III and Ahmeed Saeed, vice president for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific of the Asian Development Bank.
“As we open the doors to the Molecular and Diagnostic Pathology Laboratory in the JBLMGH which will be known as the Pandemic Sub-national Reference Laboratory, I would like to thank our partners who continuously support the DOH specially during this most difficult time. We value our partnership with our stakeholders and partners which helps us strengthen our mechanisms in providing the health needs of our countrymen,” said Duque.
“I am also very thankful to the staff of the JBLMGH who has come to this new challenge to serve our fellow Filipinos at this most difficult time. It is our aspiration that this will continue to serve as our reference laboratory in the future once this pandemic has come to an end,” he added.
For his part, Gov. Dennis Pineda called it a “life-saving” facility because there is none of its kind in the whole of Central Luzon. The provincial government has 10,000 test kits to start with, Pineda said, adding that priority for testing will be the confirmed and suspected cases of the coronavirus disease.
According to JBLMGH chief Dr. Monserrat Chichioco, testing will be on a scale-up approach. Initially, it will be on an eight-hour operation to run 500 to 1,000 tests a day until the laboratory operates 24 hours, therefore, targeting about 3,000 tests a day. Continuous recruitment of laboratory scientists and medical technologists, and training of newly hired laboratory personnel will be implemented to reach the 24-hour operation.
“Guidelines on Expanded Testing issued by the DOH shall still be the basis when receiving samples for testing. People under the subgroups A (patients or healthcare workers with severe/critical symptoms, and relevant history of travel/contact) and B (patients or healthcare workers with mild symptoms, relevant history of travel/contact, and considered vulnerable) will still be prioritized,” DOH regional director Cesar Cassion said.
“Covid-19 facilities and DOH-retained hospitals in the region are the priority for referral. Once JBLMGH has scaled-up and operates 24 hours, local government and private hospitals can send their letter of intent and can have their memorandum of agreement with JBLMGH,” Cassion added. – DOH-3 PR with Pampanga PIO
