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Targeted Covid-19 testing in CDO begins May 20

By Jigger Jerusalem and Ercel Maandig

May 19, 2020, 6:24 pm

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- The Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) will begin the targeted testing for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) on Wednesday (May 20) after 1,140 cartridges for the testing machine arrived on Monday.

Dr. Bernard Rocha, NMMC medical specialist, said Tuesday that priority testing will be given to suspect and probable Covid-19 individuals who showed signs or symptoms related to the virus, as well as medical front-liners working at the state-run hospital, and health personnel from other medical facilities.

"Thanks to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the Air Force they delivered the cartridges even in heavy rains. On Monday, NMMC will have a walkthrough and review of protocols and on Tuesday, the latter will have an online supervised demonstration and orientation of the processing of samples so that by Wednesday or Thursday this week at the latest, they will start the testing," he said.

However, Rocha cautioned against overusing the GeneXpert Xpress machine in processing the swab samples of suspected Covid-19 patients, saying the targeted goal of 400 to 500 tests a day set by the Department of Health in Region 10 (DOH-10) may not be feasible at least until the hospital and the agency fully operationalize the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction machines (RT-PCR) machines lent to them by the city government here.

"Once there are five RT-PCR machines, each can process 90 test results per hour daily,’ Rocha said.

The city government provided two RT-PCR machines to DOH-10 to complement the latter's GeneXpert Xpress machine and ordered another third RT-PCR machine for NMMC.

Mayor Oscar Moreno said mass testing won’t be possible in the next few months until the NMMC, the DOH-10, and private-run Polymedic Medical Plaza each operate the RT-PCR machines at full capacity.

"There will be selected or targeted testing for certain communities and barangays," Moreno said.

Dr. Joselito Retuya, resident epidemiologist of the City Health Office (CHO) here, said that aside from Covid-19 suspects and probable individuals, they will also prioritize the testing of persons afflicted with acute respiratory illness (ARI) and influenza-like illness (ILI).

"Under the DOH guidance, we will conduct targeted testing. Patients and health care workers will be prioritized. Those with comorbidities and pregnant women will also be prioritized. They will first undergo rapid diagnostic testing to be followed by the RT-PCR testing," Retuya said. (PNA)

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