Palace to OCTA: PRC not sole provider of COVID-19 tests

Malacañang on Tuesday rejected the observation of the OCTA research group that the Philippine Red Cross’ (PRC) suspension of COVID-19 testing due to the government’s unpaid debt “crippled” efforts to curb the spread of the virus.

According to OCTA’s latest report, the impasse caused a 40- to 50-percent drop in reported COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas and crippled isolation, quarantine, and contact tracing programs since local government units “do not know whether or not a person is infected with COVID-19 within the 24-48 hour time period required.”

“We simply disagree po kasi hindi lang naman PRC ang nagti-test. We have 115 licensed RT-PCR laboratories and 35 GeneXpert laboratories,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said at a news conference.

“So, hindi po tayo nakasalalay sa iisang testing facility ng PRC.”

The PRC conducts around 30% of the total COVID-19 tests performed nationwide.

The PRC stopped processing tests chargeable to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on October 14 due to this unsettled debt, which according to the humanitarian organization has already reached P1.1 billion.

PRC chairman and Senator Richard Gordon said PhilHealth should realize the dangerous impact of its unpaid debt in terms of detecting COVID-19 infections in the country.

PhilHealth said last week that it would pay off its debt on Monday, but Gordon said the state health insurer has not released any payment yet to the PRC as of Tuesday afternoon.—AOL, GMA News