DOH issues license to Roxas City COVID lab

The COVID-19 testing laboratory of Roxas City can start operating this month after securing a license to operate from the Department of Health.

Mayor Ronnie Dadivas posted a copy of the license, which is valid from Oct 12 to Dec 31, 2020, on Facebook

“The Department of Health issued a license to operate to our Roxas City Diagnostic and Laboratory Center. This means that the City of Roxas can soon start RT-PCR testing,” the Facebook post said.

Dadivas said the tentative blessing and inauguration of the laboratory is on Oct 20, 2020.

“In these times, this is our primary source of hope to protect our health and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our community,” he added.

Roxas City acquired a relocatable containerized reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing laboratory for suspected and probable COVID-19 cases in September 2020.

The equipment was placed at Hurtos Botanicos in Brgy. Milibili where the quarantine facility of the city government is also located. The area also has a staff house for the lab personnel.

Dadivas said the laboratory will help contain COVID-19 while they wait for the first available vaccine.

He added that other local government units (LGUs) in Capiz and nearby provinces could also use the lab.

The DOH and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) also inspected the laboratory last month.

The assessment checked the readiness of the relocatable containerized laboratory to conduct RT-PCR testing of suspected COVID-19 cases.

The team was headed by Dr. Jose Eugenio Hautea along with Arch. Rene Leonardo and Michelle Casagan of the DOH, Joan Bato and Engr. Archie Reyes from the RITM.