3,000 test kits for TB that yield results in 45 mins. to arrive next week -DOH

The Department of Health on Saturday said 3,000 Gene Xpert test kits - normally used to diagnose tuberculosis and able to yield results in as fast as 45 minutes - will arrive in the Philippines next week to help jack up the country's testing capacity for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

At a virtual press briefing, Health Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire, however, clarified that the testing kits will first have to undergo validation by the DOH and could not be sent out to testing laboratories right away.

"Ang Gene Xpert ay isang teknolohiya na ginagamit na natin noon pa para sa pag-diagnose ng tuberculosis or TB. Dahil automated ang Gene Xpert machine, mas mabilis ang turnaround time nito o ang oras na kailangan upang makakuha ng resulta matapos ma-proseso ang test," said Vergeire.

"Mainam po ito dahil mas maraming specimen ang kaya nitong ma-proseso sa isang araw kumpara sa ating RT-PCR machines," she added, referring to the polymerase chain reaction currently being used by the government to diagnose COVID-19 patients.

Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, at a regular briefing earlier in the day, said the Gene Xperts testing kits have a 45-minute turnaround time.

Meanwhile, Vergeire said the DOH and the Center for Health Development are looking to turn 75 hospitals into referra hospital, with the aim of putting up at least one referral hospital per region. -MDM, GMA News