AT least 5,000 specimens at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) are waiting to tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) because of scaled-down operations at the designated national COVID-19 reference laboratory.
About 40 RITM personnel have tested positive for COVID-19.
“Our capacity was impaired when some personnel got infected. This has caused an uproar that severely disrupted our established workflow,” said RITM Director Celia Carlos.
“With the decreased number of available staff and the large volume of specimens received by RITM, the turnaround time for our testing has been prolonged to more than five days,” she added.
Carlos said the limited operation, which is projected to last until April 24, will facilitate decontamination activities in all buildings, and the checkup and testing of all RITM personnel.
“We understand that this is a cause for concern. But the number of positive cases among our personnel will continue to rise if we approach the issue in a business-as-usual manner,” she said.
“Our primary concern right now is employee welfare. The strength of the RITM family lies in each and every one of its members working together in perfect cohesion. Hence, we will only be able to provide the best possible care and service if the safety of our people is assured,” she added.
Carlos clarified only the RITM laboratories are affected by the temporary scaled-down of operations as its hospital operations remain in full swing.
Despite the limited service, Carlos said RITM has taken steps, with the help of other government agencies and organizations, to ensure continued operations despite a limited scope. These include the Department of Health prescribing a temporary zoning system for the referral of specimens to the 16 other COVID-19 testing centers.
Under the system, nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs from Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Pasay cities shall still be accommodated by RITM.
The RITM has also partnered with the Department of Agriculture and the Philippine Red Cross for additional RT-PCR machines. The World Health Organization is providing an automated PCR machine that can minimize the testing time to 45 minutes per sample.
Carlos said RITM has also opened the hiring of more medical technologists, encoders, and administrative staff to supplement their laboratory personnel.
RITM COVID-19 cases
As for the COVID-19-hit personnel, Carlos there are now 43 confirmed cases out of 790 RITM personnel, all of whom have been tested for COVID-19, although some are still awaiting their results.
Carlos said the index patient at RITM was found to be an encoder, who contracted the virus from his community.
“Through an internal contact-tracing activity, the high-risk individuals have been identified and were the first to receive necessary interventions,” said Carlos.
At the House, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, chair of the committee on ways and means, said the number of persons tested for COVID-19 will be reach the minimum requirement by May 15 if government will heed his recommendation to extend the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) by two weeks.
“By May 15, sa tingin ko kakayanin na natin ma-achieve at least minimum number of tested individuals para mahuli na natin yung impeksyon (By May 15, I believe that we’ll be able to achieve at least the minimum number of tested individuals so we can finally address this infection),” he told radio dzBB.
Salceda opposed calls to lift the ECQ on April 30, saying it will mean “unleashing” about 1.9 billion daily social contacts in the country, exposing them to “so many infecting individuals given the kind of testing we have conducted.”
He earlier noted that the country has only so far undertaken around 46,000 tests, with possibly another 80,000 coming by April 30, the last day of the ECQ. Thus, with only 130,000 tests or 0.1 percent of population, Salceda said, it is possible that many positive cases, especially asymptomatic cases, remain undetected.
The Department of Health on Monday said some 55,400 individuals have been tested. — With Wendell Vigilia
