Philippines taking too long in studying COVID-19 saliva tests -Gordon

The government is taking too long in studying for possible approval the use of saliva test for COVID-19 detection in the Philippines, Senator Richard Gordon said on Monday.

"Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) ang nag-e-examine. It’s taking them a long time, October 17 pa sinubmit ‘yan at ginagamit na din ‘yan sa ibang bansa. Over one million COVID testing has been done using that, at 99.9% ang accuracy," Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, said in a statement.

The HTAC is an independent advisory body which guides the Department of Health and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on the coverage of health interventions and technologies to be funded by the government. 

He said this COVID-19 saliva test, launched by the University of Illinois, costs only $20 each and yields accurate results within just hours.

The senator added that the collection of specimen for the saliva test would no longer require swabbing and that the same machines for the RT-PCR testing will be used.

“Mas madali ito dahil hindi na kailangan ng swab sa ilong at lalamunan. Kailangan lang dumura sa test tube. Mas mabilis din mapa-process at mailalabas ang results," Gordon said.

"Walang machines na bibilhin at matatangal din ang test kits kaya mababawasan din ang presyo ng testing," he added.

The Department of Health said the saliva test needed further study before it could be used as an alternative to the RT-PCR test.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said the DOH's recommendations were sent to the Philippine Red Cross in November 2020.

These include conducting further study, increasing the number of participants in its trial and securing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a saliva testing kit, according to the DOH official.

A total of 6.43 million individuals in the country had, so far, undergone COVID-19 tests that were facilitated by 179 testing laboratories.

Of this number, 478,761 tested positive for the virus—448,279 recovered, 9,263 died, and 21,219 are still active cases. -NB, GMA News