THE Northern Mindanao Medical Center said on Thursday that its new laboratory has successfully processed Covid-19 swab tests, the first in the region.
NMMC spokesperson Dr. Bernard Rocha said among those that were successfully processed were swab tests from four patients who were admitted to the hospital this week.
Rocha said it took only an hour to process at the NMMC GeneXpert laboratory the swab tests from the patients.
He said the test results from the patients, who are not from Cagayan de Oro. showed they are not Covid-19-infected.
“The tests were processed through real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction tests (RT-PCR),” Rocha said.
Rocha said with this development, the NMMC laboratory can now accept swab tests taken from all over Northern Mindanao.
He said the hospital received some 1,700 cartridges that were airlifted to Cagayan de Oro last weekend.
Rocha said the cartridges would be used in processing the swab tests.
He said eventually the processing of the test would rise as soon as the three RT-PCR machines donated by the local government of Cagayan de Oro will arrive.
Rocha however cautioned residents from expectations that the processing of Covid-19 tests at the NMMC would eradicate the virus.
“What testing does is help us at the NMMC, the Department of Health (DOH-10) and City Health Office of Cagayan de Oro City Hall in identifying and isolating the patient, his or her loved ones and the persons who had close contact with the patient,” Rocha said.
Rocha said the health officials could then proceed tests the targeted infected patients.
Because the cartridges are in short supply globally, Rocha said priority will given to patients and medical front liners. (Froilan Gallardo)
