MOA SIGNING. The local government of Makati, BDO Foundation, the Philippine Children's Medical Center (PCMC), and the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship/Go Negosyo on Wednesday (Aug. 5, 2020) sign a memorandum of agreement for the pooled RT-PCR testing in Makati City. The pooled testing for 10,000 residents will start on August 15. (Screengrab from Go Negosyo FB page live stream)
MANILA – The Makati City government will roll out RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) pooled testing for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) for 10,000 residents starting August 15 amid the raging pandemic.
Makati Mayor Abigail Binay on Wednesday said the local government has initially targeted some 10,000 individuals to undergo in the pooled RT-PCR testing.
"Hopefully the pooled testing would be the answer for us to put a social end to the pandemic," Binay said during the virtual signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the pooled testing under the Project Ark Initiative of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship's Go Negosyo.
Makati City has identified the possible participants for the pooled testing by sector, Binay added.
She said market vendors and public utility drivers are the initial target sectors of the pooled testing, citing them as the ones most exposed to the risks of the dreaded coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
"We are also testing our tricycle drivers, jeepney drivers, pedicab drivers, and one community near Makati City Coliseum will also be included in the pooled testing," she said.
Binay cited the importance of balancing the economic activities and management of the prevailing health crisis, noting that pooled testing can be a tool in helping the country to halt the spread of Covid-19.
"How are we going back to the new normal, how do we assure that the people are safe to come out and how do we make sure that the medical practitioners are protected and how do we ensure that laboratories are not tired and exhausted and I think the pooled testing is the answer," she said.
"The City of Makati is ready to conduct pooled testing. We already set up our booths, we already identified who will be part of the pooled testing. We will make it worthwhile," she added.
Binay said the pooled testing will be very helpful not just for the residents "but also to the small business communities that can't afford the cost of RT-PCR for their employees."
"This is to encourage companies to open up because it is safe to open up and [those] employees will also be assured that they are not spreading the virus," she said.
Makati City is selected to be the pilot site for the pooled testing under the Project Ark initiative.
"This is a clear vote of confidence and trust in Makati's coronavirus policies and protocols," Binay said.
Meanwhile, Joey Concepcion, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship said: "the objectives of the project is to save lives, jobs, and livelihoods."
"We are going to make the best of this next two weeks and the challenge really is how do we exist with Covid-19," he added.
Concepcion, also the Go Negosyo founder, said private sectors have pledged to support all the 16 cities in National Capital Region (NCR) and its one neighboring municipality, to revive the economy while there is an ongoing pandemic.
"We cannot have our vibrant economy if we don't control our health situation," he said.
What is pooled testing?
Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin explained that using a pooled testing method, the swab samples of multiple individuals are put into a single RT-PCR test.
Then a further assessment will be done if a positive result comes from a single batch of pooled tests, she added.
If the swab tests come back negative, there is no need to undertake individual tests.
Garin, also Project Ark PCR Initiative chief implementer, said the execution of the pooled testing seeks to make Covid-19 testing affordable and accessible to all.
"Pooled testing does not only deal with a drastically reduced price, but it also deals with protecting our healthcare workers, hastening the turn around time and making our laboratories the windows that can actually open and guide us where the viruses are," Garin said. "The desire of the BDO Foundation, the City of Makati and the Go Negosyo, the Philippine Center of Entrepreneurship is not only to make testing affordable, basically it boils down to how we can put back confidence in the workplaces."
Garin added that project Ark targets to test public market vendors, drivers, and the other asymptomatic vulnerable individuals.
"It is very difficult to be in the pandemic, but what inspires everybody, especially the health workers, is that when private sectors and the government come together," she said.
The Makati City, BDO Foundation, the Philippine Children's Medical Center (PCMC) and the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship/Go Negosyo signed the MOA on the testing initiative to support government efforts in strengthening the country's testing capacity.
"Project Ark is a private-sector led initiative that aims to drastically boost the country's capacity to identify and contain coronavirus cases." (PNA)
