CLARK FREEPORT — Laboratory equipment for mass testing for Covid-19 are set to arrive at the Clark International Airport here from Shenzhen, China tonight, Tuesday, April 21.
Dr. Monserrat Chichioco, medical director of the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital (JBLMRH), said a C-130 cargo plane of the Department of National Defense is bringing in the shipment at 9:30 p.m.
The JBLMRH in the City of San Fernando is the recipient of the equipment provided by a grant from the Asian Development Bank
Earlier, the ADB through the Beijing Genomics Institute granted the request of the Department of Health to develop the JBLMRH as a pandemic sub-national reference laboratory (PSRL) that would expand its capacity to detect the presence of SARS-CoV2 virus.
According to Chichioco, several equipment have been unloaded from a commercial flight in Manila last Monday, noting a one week delay in the delivery as all the equipment could not fit in a chartered plane.
Chichioco said Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda mobilized trucks and workers to haul Tuesday night’s cargo from the Philippine Air Force’s Haribon Terminal in Clark and assigned police personnel to escort these to the JBLMRH.
For his part, Dennis Pineda has long urged the DOH to fast-track the process of accrediting laboratories that are capable of doing COVID-19 mass testing not only in Pampanga but also in all the provinces of Central Luzon.
The governor made his appeal anew only last Monday in an online briefing with Local Government Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya and regional officials of the DOH and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Pineda cited the critical need for these laboratories as Central Luzon is the third most populated region in the country, and is host to “prime engines of economic development” that are the Clark Freeport in Pampanga and Subic Bay Freeport in Zambales.
More than 10 hospitals based in the region have sought DOH accreditation for their laboratories but only the JBLMRH has reached Stage 3, which means that its doctors and medical technicians are undergoing or are in the process of completing their training.
