Dedicated Covid-19 testing lab eyed in Iloilo airport

A dedicated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing laboratory is being proposed at the Iloilo International Airport to respond to the surge of returning repatriates in the region.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas is actively pushing for the additional COVID-19 testing laboratory at the Iloilo airport in Cabatuan, Iloilo.

Treñas said he personally requested Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging and Infectious Diseases (IATF-IED) Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. for funds for the airport laboratory.

“I texted Sec. Galvez nga kon pwede mabutangan man diri sang Covid-19 test laboratory sa Iloilo airport basi pa lang kon may pondo sila pabutangan sang laboratory dira sa airport,” he said in a press conference on Monday.

Treñas underscored the need for a laboratory at the airport to speed up Covid-19 testings.

He added that it will also help cater to the surge of returning LSIs and repatriates.

“Ini para kon may mga flights na, dira na lang sa airport i-swab kag i-test para magwa ang resulta sa madali nga panahon,” he said.

The mayor said Galvez assured him in a text message that a one-stop-shop COVID-19 testing laboratory will be established at the Iloilo airport.

“It will be a laboratory gid pero one-stop-shop. I think it will be similar to the molecular laboratory in Qualimed Hospital,” he said.

He pointed out Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) as an example of an airport-dedicated testing laboratory where results can be released in a span of 17 hours.

“Ang aton lang gusto sige-sige,bala, pag-abot sang bisita, matest dayon, mapagwa dayon ang results at the earliest possible time,” he added.

MCIA in Cebu recently began operating as the first airport-dedicated coronavirus disease COVID-19 real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test laboratory in the country.

In Panay Island, only the Western Visayas Medical Center Sub National Laboratory (WVMC-SNL) and the Qualimed Hospital Molecular Laboratory are the accredited testing centers. (ERS)