Particularly, the Department of Pathology and Laboratories, Molecular Biology Section of said hospital received its LTO issued by the Department of Health - Health Facilities and Services Regulatory Bureau after successfully completing the rigorous training and passing the competency assessment for COVID-19 (Xpert Xpress SARS-COV-2) Testing. The assessment was conducted by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
Once in full operationalization, said section will run COVID-19 test from Mondays to Fridays except Thursdays at 8-5pm because the equipment which will be used for COVID-19 (Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2) is also utilized for tuberculosis PCR and HIV viral load. The turn- around time is 24-48 hours from the time of receipt in the laboratory. Although the GeneXpert can run lesser tests than the PCR machine, the two technologies will supplement each other if more testing will be done by the province”.
Further, the Hospital has set up protocols for priority cases to test based on existing guidelines set by the DOH.
The MMMHMC is the second DOH retained hospital to be accredited for COVID-19 testing in Region I and the first in the Region to use GeneXpert technology. - Clenntroy Vicka Guzman