Subic Bay Freeport—The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has upped its coronavirus testing capacity with the opening of two bio-molecular laboratories in Clark and Subic Bay Freeport Zones.
PRC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senator Richard J. Gordon yesterday said the laboratories in Clark and Subic are now up and ready to run after it passed the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine’s (RITM) proficiency test last week and were accredited as certified COVID-19 testing centers.
“Both molecular laboratories are equipped with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines that are capable of testing 2,000 samples per day each. These two laboratories increase PRC’s testing capability to 16,000 tests a day.
“This will really help us as we ramp up our testing capacity so that more people will get tested all over the country,” said Gordon. “Our aim is to really get our people tested so that we can immediately isolate those who are affected and prevent the non-carriers from acquiring the virus, Gordon pointed out.
He added he asked the Department of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade to open the Subic Bay International Airport to allow our OFWs, which number 300,000 to land in Subic.
“They (OFWs) can all be brought here. We have an airport and a seaport we have quarantine facilities. They can have themselves tested and get the results in three days only,” Gordon said.
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman and Administrator Wilma Eisma said the opening of the bio-molecular laboratory completes SBMA’s readiness to re-open.
Earlier, the SBMA has established a Swab testing facility at a location near the Freeport gates and two isolation and quarantine facilities at the Freeport.
“As SBMA Chair, I was not prepared to open Subic until we are ready with these facilities. Now that we all have these facilities in place, I am confident that come the Modified General Community Quarantine, we are now prepared to open our borders. We are prepared to handle all these cases without straining our existing medical facilities,” Eisma said.
Gordon, who is a proponent of mass testing, added: “We can tell everybody: When we shall have tested all our employees, all our people, we should be the first, along with Clark, (to do this). We can advertise to the whole world to have tested everybody here. So now you are welcome to come down here. So we can immediately create jobs.”
The Philippine Red Cross is the only Red Cross that established bio-molecular laboratories in the world.
The first two molecular laboratories of the PRC are located at its national headquarters in EDSA. Aside from these, another laboratory in its former headquarters in Port Area, Manila is already running. Other testing centers in Batangas, Laguna, Mandaue City, Isabela, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga City, Bacolod City, and Surigao are also opening soon that will up Red Cross’ testing capability to 46,000 per day.