The Medical City launches drive-thru COVID-19 testing facility in Pasig

Pasig City hospital The Medical City has launched a drive-thru coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing facility, according to a Wednesday report on "Stand for Truth."

"Actually, naisip namin 'yung drive-thru facility using, I would say, the better or the best alternative option right now for COVID testing, other than RT-PCR, which is what we call ECLIA," division head Lawrence Siabayan said in the report.

"Kasi we wanted something that's fast, convenient, and reliable for the customers," he added.

Taguig City and Antipolo City were the first to establish drive-thru COVID-19 testing facilities in the country. However, the Medical City is the first to offer the ECLIA, or electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, antibody test.

ECLIA uses blood samples and the results will be ready in 24 hours, the hospital said.

"[Through] internal verification studies in Medical City, we have proven the same level of accuracy, no. It's very close to a hundred percent in our own patients, doing it among PCR-positive and PCR-negative patients," said the hospital's pathology department head Dr. Elizabeth Nuqui.

The hospital urges those who want to be tested to book appointments, though drive-in guests are also welcome, it said. The facility is open from Monday to Sunday, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health in Ortigas.  — Joahna Lei Casilao/BM, GMA News