UMAPELA si House Deputy Majority Leader at Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Wilter Palma II sa Department of Health na bilisan ang pag-accredit sa mga testing facility sa Mindanao upang hindi na kailanganin pang ilipad sa Metro Manila ang swab test ng mga pasyente na posibleng nahawa ng coronavirus disease 2019.
Ayon kay Palma tanging ang Southern Philippines Medical Center sa Davao City ang nag-iisang accredited laboratory para sa COVID-19 testing sa Mindanaa kaya ang mga swab sample sa Region XI ay inililipad pa ng C-130 ng Armed Forces of the Philippines para madala sa Research Institute for Tropical Medicine sa Muntinlupa City.
“With the guidance, wisdom, skills and technical expertise of our good secretary and the country’s health experts, I don’t think there is reason to deny any application of local officials to establish more facilities nationwide for COVID-19 laboratory tests that are fully compliant with the standards set by the DoH,” ani Palma.
Nakabinbin ang aplikasyon ng Zamboanga City Medical Center, ang nag-iisang tertiary DoH-retained hospital sa Region IX, upang makapag-test ng COVID-19.
Inalok din ng Department of Agriculture ang kanilang laboratoryo sa Zamboanga City na may kakayanan sa Diagnostic Polymerase Chain Reaction na kayang mag-detect ng COVID-19. Ang pasilidad ay ginagamit din sa pag-detect ng African swine fever at Avian Influenza.
“We have done our part in strengthening Region IX’s COVID-19 outbreak response and we are hoping that the Department of Health will act favorably very soon. More testing laboratories and testing kits would mean faster identification, isolation of infected individuals and better chances of defeating COVID-19,” dagdag pa ng solon.