MANILA – The Philippines now has 99 certified laboratories capable of testing specimens from coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients.
"From just one laboratory with 300 tests per day capacity in February, we now have 99 laboratories with an average output of 28,938 tests per day," Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Wednesday during the 'Can the Philippines Dance with Covid-19?' online discussion.
According to DOH's latest situation report, there are 75 licensed RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) laboratories and 24 licensed GeneXpert laboratories improving the country's testing capacity.
"All regions in the country except for Caraga already have licensed Covid-19 Testing Laboratories. Caraga's laboratory which are RT-PCR laboratories, as well as GeneXpert Laboratory, is already in Stage 4 and we're just waiting for them to complete the process so they can have a licensed laboratory," Vergeire said.
She added about 74 laboratories are in stages 3 and 4 which is 85 percent of all of the total number of laboratories applying for a license.
The following are the licensed RT-PCR laboratories :
Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, Parkway Medical and Diagnostic Center, AFRIMS-Collaborative Molecular Laboratory, Asian Hospital, and Medical Center, Chinese General Hospital, Detoxicare Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Dr. Jose B. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium, Fe del Mundo Medical Center, Health Delivery Systems, Hi-Precision-Quezon City and Lung Center of the Philippines.
Makati Medical Center, Marikina Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Airport Diagnostic Laboratory, Philippine Children's Medical Center, Philippine Genome Center UP-Diliman, Philippine Red Cross-National Blood Center, Philippine Red Cross-Port Area, Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory, PRC-PRC Logistics, and Multipurpose Center, and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
Safeguard DNA Diagnostics, Inc., San Lazaro Hospital, San Miguel Foundation Testing Laboratory, Singapore Diagnostic, Inc., St. Luke's Medical Center-Bonifacio Global City, St. Luke's Medical Center-Quezon City, The Medical City-Ortigas, Tropical Disease Foundation, University of Perpetual Help System Data, UP National Institutes of Health, UP Philippine General Hospital-Medical Research Laboratory, Victoriano Lune Medical Center-AFRIMS-Collaborative Molecular Laboratory, Ilocos Training Regional Medical Center, Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital, Bataan General Hospital, and Green City Medical Center.
The other licensed RT-PCR laboratories are J.B. Lingad Memorial Hospital, Philippine Red Cross-Logistics, and Training Center, Philippine Red Cross Clark Molecular Laboratory, Qualimed Hospital-San Jose Del Monte, Daniel O. Mercado Medical Center, De La Salle University-Cavite, Laguna Provincial Hospital-San Pablo District Hospital, Lucena United Doctors Hospital, and Medical Center, Mary Mediatrix Medical Center, Ospital ng Imus, PRC-Batangas Chapter Molecular Laboratory, Qualimed Hospital Santa Rosa, San Pablo College District Hospital, UPLB Covid-19 Molecular Laboratory, and Bicol Regional Diagnostic and Reference Laboratory.
Also included in the list are Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, Qualimed Health Network-IloIlo, Teresita Jalandoni Provincial Hospital, The Doctors Hospital, Inc., Western Visayas Medical Center, Allegiant Regional Care Hospital, Cebu Doctors University Hospital, Inc., Cebu TB Reference Laboratory, Philippine Red Cross - Cebu Chapter, Prime Care Alpha Covid-19 Testing Laboratory, University of Cebu Medical Center, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Divine Word Hospital, Eastern Visayas Regional Covid-19 Testing Center, Ciudad Medical Zamboanga, Zamboanga City Medical Center-Department of Agriculture Satellite Laboratory for Covid-19 Testing, Northern Mindanao TB Regional Center, Polymedic Medical Plaza, Davao One World Diagnostic Center Incorporated and Southern Philippines Medical Center.
Meanwhile, the licensed cartridge-based PCR or GeneXpert laboratories are Amai Pakpak Medical Center, Amang Rodriguez Memorial Center, Dr. Jose B. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium, Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Heart Center, Sta. Ana Hospital-Closed System Molecular Laboratory, Tondo Medical Center, Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital, Region 1 Medical Center, Cagayan Valley CHD TB Reference Laboratory, Bataan General Hospital, Bulacan Medical Center, Batangas Medical Center, Oriental Mindoro Provincial Hospital, Ospital ng Palawan, Bicol Medical Center, Zamboanga City Medical Center, Northern Mindanao Medical Center, Davao Regional Medical Center, Cotabato Regional Medical Center, Dr. Arturo Pingoy Medical Center, and St. Elizabeth Hospital. (PNA)
