Iloilo reinforces safety measures against COVID-19

The two-day COVID-19 Testing Kit Training is now on its second day at the University of San Agustin Center for Chemical Biology and Biotechnology (C2B2) and Gregor Mendel Research Laboratories (GMRL).

Having the facilities and expertise on handling the technology, the University of San Agustin hosted the training that will prepare the West Visayas State University Medical Center that is yet to acquire the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) machine and set up its laboratory before it is accredited as as the second COVID-19 Testing Center in the region.

The training is spearheaded by the staff and volunteers sent by Dr. Raul Destura from Manila HealthTek, Inc., the main developer of the low-cost COVID-19 Detection Kit and assisted by USA’s DOST Balik Scientists – C2B2 Director Dr. Doralyn Dalisay and molecular biologist Dr. Christopher Caipang.

C2B2’s qPCR machine was acquired through a grant by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to Dr. Dalisay’s drug discovery research program.

In the spirit of unity, the training was made possible through the collaborative effort of the Philippine Genome Center-Visayas, West Visayas State University Medical Center, University of San Agustin-Iloilo, DOST, Dr. Destura and his staff and volunteers, and the Iloilo City government.

The heart of this initiative is to create a new COVID-19 Testing Center in WVSUMC equipped with proficient staff and necessary equipment. The participants are eight medical technologists from WVSUMC and one medical technologist from the PGC-Visayas.

“This training is not only about the proper usage of testing kits, but it also tackles molecular biology laboratory principles from the most basic to the most complicated,” explained Mr. Julius Aaron Mejia from Manila HealthTek, one of the co-developers of the Filipino-made test kits who spearheaded the training.

The end goal of the training is for the MedTech-participants to pass on their learning and train their fellow practitioners at WVSUMC for effective use of the testing kit.

To ensure their proficiency, this two-day training will be followed by another five-day training at the same venue next week, 20-24 April 2020, which will be handled by Dr. Noel Ferriols, PGC-Visayas Director, and the two DOST Balik Scientists.