Robredo wants faster accreditation of COVID-19 testing centers

Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday urged the Department of Health (DOH) to fast track the accreditation of laboratories for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing amid reports of repatriates who are unable to return home due to unprocessed results.

Robredo said she spoke to several stakeholders who claimed that the snail-paced licensing of laboratories was delaying the processing of thousands of repatriates’ swab samples.

The Vice President said the private sector and educational institutions such as the University of the Philippines should be tapped to aid in accreditation.

“Hindi naman natin naso-solo sa gobyerno iyong kapasidad, e. Marami namang mga private na kayang mag-accredit, sana patulungin na para bumilis-bilis iyong pag-accredit ng mga laboratories,” she said in her weekly radio show.

The DOH had accredited 34 polymerase chain reaction facilities and eight GeneXpert laboratories as of Saturday.

“Ang biktima, halimbawa ito mga OFWs, biktima ito ng kabagalan natin. Kaya ang tagal nila sa quarantine facilities kasi iyon nga, iyong sobrang bagal. Mabagal kasi kakaunti pa lang so dapat bilisan iyong pag-accredit,” Robredo said.

The DOH earlier explained that encoding issues were causing the delay in the release of repatriates from the mandatory 14-day quarantine upon return to the Philippines.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration appealed for patience from repatriates in waiting for their test results since there were some 25,000 samples that need to be processed.

Around 27,000 Filipino migrant workers were still awaiting their results as of May 18.

Two days later, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque reported that at least 13,000 repatriates were ready to be sent home after undergoing the quarantine and COVID-19 testing.

Mass testing

Meanwhile, Robredo also urged mass testing in preparation for the possible easing of quarantine restrictions after May 31.

“Tingin ko mahalaga iyong mass testing kasi kahit pa mag-[general community quarantine na, takot iyong tao e… Kapag takot iyong tao, apektado rin iyong mga negosyo. Kapag takot iyong tao, apektado pa rin iyong ekonomiya,” she said.

“Makakadagdag sana sa confidence ng tao kapag nakikita na iyong dapat ma-test, nate-test. Hindi naman natin hinihingi na lahat na tao i-test, pero kailangan sana nakikita ng tao na handa tayo,” the vice president added.

A total of 272,255 people have been tested for COVID-19 as of Saturday, according to the DOH.

The Philippines has recorded 14,035 confirmed cases with 3,249 recoveries and 868 deaths as of Sunday afternoon. — DVM, GMA News