War on COVID-19 continues with Negros Occidental testing center

The ad hoc COVID-19 Testing Lab Task Force held another batch of training on April 27-30, 2020, in coordination with Dr. Noel Ferriols of the Philippine Genome Center-Visayas (PGC-Visayas).

The topics covered are biosafety, biosecurity, proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE), molecular biology, use of biosafety hoods and pipets, and qPCR operation and data interpretation.

The trainors are Dr. Ferriols and his staff at PGC-Visayas, Mr. Jason Jolito and Mr. Harold Mediodia from Philippine Science High School-Western Visayas Campus, and DOST Balik Scientists of University of San Agustin (USA) Dr. Christopher Caipang and Dr. Doralyn Dalisay.

The hands on, practical training are conducted at USA’s Center for Chemical Biology and Biotechnology (C2B2) under the auspices of the USA Office of Research and Global Relations, where the region’s most advanced molecular biology equipment are made available by the Augustinian friars for the common good of the community.

The training was intended for five pathologists and medical technologists of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in Bacolod City headed by its chief pathologist, Dr. Hans Ferraris.

The trainees will serve as the core team for the only laboratory for COVID-19 testing in Negros island and the third in Western Visayas. They will also be tasked with training other laboratory staff of CLMMRH.

The initiative of establishing a testing center in Negros Occidental to address the COVID-19 pandemic is a brainchild of Dr. Julius Drilon, medical center chief of CLMMRH.

Also, a group composed of representatives from DOH, RITM, and WHO has already reviewed the design, layout, and site of the proposed testing lab last week and made recommendations for its improvement.

According to Dr. Ferraris, “If everything goes according to plan, the testing lab is expected to be fully operational in June 2020”.