Marikina mayor to DOH on delay in approving COVID-19 testing facility: Mahalaga ang bawat araw

Marikina Mayor Marcelino "Marcy" Teodoro on Wednesday pointed out that every day is crucial in a public health emergency after the Department of Health (DOH) again said the local government’s COVID-19 testing center as incomplete.

Teodoro expressed frustration that the DOH scheduled them on Monday to have biosafety training for the testing center personnel, and not earlier.

“Ang gusto ng DOH, schedule pa raw kami sa Lunes dahil 'yun daw ang schedule ng training sa DOH,” Teodoro said in an interview on GMA News’ Unang Balita.

“Ang sabi ko, may public health emergency tayo. Mahalaga ang bawat araw,” he said.

Despite the assessment of the DOH on Tuesday, Teodoro maintained that the local government will open the testing center for COVID-19 on Friday even without the DOH approval.

Teodoro said the testing laboratory has trained and qualified laboratory technicians, noting that its molecular pathologist was even trained in Germany.

“Ang sabi nila kailangan i-train daw ng DOH sa biosafety measures. One-day training ito,” he said.

“Nakiusap nga ako sa DOH: Kung one-day training ito, bakit hindi gawin ngayong araw o bukas? Para sa Biyernes, sa pagbubukas namin, e fully complied na kami sa training requirement,” he added.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday said Marikina's COVID-19 testing facility has not yet complied with biosafety standards.

"Ito pong laboratoryo na ito ay hindi pa po kayang lisensyahan dahil marami pa hong kakulangan. Kami po ay nandito at ino-offer namin na tutulungan namin sila para mabuksan natin ito sa lalong madaling panahon," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an interview on GMA News' Unang Balita.

"Pero hindi po natin puwedeng ipilit na kung wala pang training ang mga tao. Hindi pa husto ang kanilang compliance sa kanilang physical structure at sa kanilang workflow process ...Ito po ay makakapag-cause ng risks sa ating community diyan sa Marikina," she added.

The DOH also explained that some equipment in Marikina’s testing center were not yet installed and the workflow structure of the laboratory was still at 80% to 90% completion.

“Sinasabi po nila kaya hindi nila naaprubahan dahil hindi ho naka-install 'yung aming mga machine. Hindi namin ma-install dahil ho ‘yung final inspection report ng DOH, ‘yun po ang nakaka-delay,” Teodoro said.

According to Teodoro, the Marikina government had been requesting for the DOH to assess again the COVID-19 testing laboratory since last week after the department rejected it in March.

“Para po kaming bolang pinagpapasa-pasahan sa DOH. Dini-dribble kami sa iba't ibang department o unit nila kung kailan pupunta, kung kailan i-schedule,” Teodoro said.

“Kapag binuksan ko 'to sa Biyernes, alam kong may batas akong lalabagin. Ngunit pipiliin ko nang managot sa batas dahil sa pangangailangan ng ating mga kababayan dito,” he added.

Teodoro said a patient in Marikina waited to get the test result from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine. The positive result was released after a week. Due to this, the patient died without receiving early and proper treatment. 

“Namatay ang tao,” Teodoro said.

As of Tuesday, the total number fatalities in the Philippines due to COVID-19 rose to 335 with 5,223 confirmed cases. —Joviland Rita/KG, GMA News