Normin to receive 3 add’l Covid testing machines

TO speed up coronavirus disease testing, the Department of Health (DOH) Central Office will provide three additional GeneXpert machines to Region 10.

“Karon ang Northern Mindanao Medical Center naa sila’y isa nga gigamit but that GeneXpert machine can only test 4 tests per hour so more or less 48 tests a day,” DOH-10 Regional Director Dr. Adriano Suba-an said during the NorMin Covid-19 Response Task Force press conference, yesterday.

The regional director added that with more GeneXpert machines, the region can conduct more testing for the disease. Thus, he urged NMMC Medical Director Dr. Jose Chan to accept the units, which will arrive soon in the region.

“So hopefully muabot siya kay na-train naman pud ang atong mga health workers sa Northern Mindanao Medical Center. Naa pud ta’y RT-PCR machine kanang gibutang diha sa atong TB Reference Center but kailangan pa mupasar pa siya ug proficiency training to be conducted by the RITM,” Suba-an said.

As the region’s apex hospital, NMMC will be equipped with an RT-PCR machine, and DOH-10 is targeting to have the laboratory functional by July 2020.

As for the laboratory operations related to Covid-19 in Polymedic Medical Plaza and TB Reference Center, Suba-an said they will be operational once the proficiency training is obtained.

“Tomorrow (May 20), hopefully, the GeneXpert machine will start now to test the RT-PCR for Covid-19 and hopefully we can start doing that and we can hit the ground doing our mass testing,” Suba-an said.

GeneXpert has been widely deployed years ago to rapidly detect tuberculosis, including multi-drug resistant strains. It has since been adapted to enable rapid testing of many her pathogens, including not only HIV and hepatitis C, but also influenza, Ebola and sexually transmitted infections. (PIA-10)