More than 1,000 RT-PCR results pending at provincial hospital

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – Due to some procedural requirements that were not followed, more than 1,000 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results are now pending for release at the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital Molecular Laboratory in Silay City.

RTC-PCR is considered the most reliable test to detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Provincial Administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz II, said the results are ready for release if not for the “procedural requirements that were not followed.”

Diaz said there was a problem with the matching of data with the persons who underwent testing.

He also said that the provincial government wants “to speed up the process and at the same time, improve our accuracy.”

“These are all part of the birth pains of the laboratory because it just started operating for a month.”

Diaz also said that “the faster the process, the faster we can send our locally stranded individuals and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) home.”

All specimens taken in Negros Occidental are now examined at the TLJPH laboratory.

The TLJPH Molecular Laboratory in Silay City has been operating since the first week of June after being certified by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to perform COVID-19 tests.