RITM seen to finish backlogs by end-April despite scaled-down operations —DOH

The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine is expected to catch up with backlogs in coronavirus disease 2019 testing by the end of the month even though it has scaled-down its operations after 43 of its personnel got infected, according to the Department of Health.

“To help them process the specimens for testing which were submitted to them before this happened, we have implemented a system of zoning to accommodate the supposed specimens of RITM," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a statement released on Wednesday night.

Vergeire earlier said that the RITM will only receive specimens from Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Pasay to limit further backlogs "until the laboratory has an optimal number of staff to resume regular operations."

RITM's reduced operations started on April 16 and will last until April 24.

She added that other specimens coming in will be shifted to the following sub-national and licensed private laboratories:

• San Lazaro Hospital
• Lung Center of the Philippines
• UP National Institutes of Health
• The Medical City St. Luke’s Medical Center BGC and QC
• Chinese General Hospital
• MakatiMed
• Philippine Red Cross
• Detoxicare

"We are doing this to make sure that results of these tests will not be delayed now that we are doing expanded testing," Vergeire said.

Further, she said that the DOH continues to capacitate the COVID-19 testing laboratories in the country by hiring additional medical technologists, laboratory aides, and encoders.

Likewise, Vergeire said full operations at the RITM—with a testing capacity of 1,200 per day—is expected to resume this coming Saturday. —Dona Magsino/LBG, GMA News