Iloilo City is now equipped to test not just the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) but also monkeypox with the opening of its Uswag Molecular Laboratory at its permanent site in Barangay San Pedro in Molo district on Friday, Oct. 14.
“It is a biosafety level 2 facility equipped with machines and instruments needed for molecular testing. At present, the facility will focus on COVID-19 testing but the same equipment can also test for other diseases,” Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said in his message during the inauguration.
He added that a team of four led by laboratory head Anabelle Rosario Blancaflor completed the training for monkeypox and were just waiting for the go signal from the Department of Health to start conducting tests.
“This new facility will be of great help in leveling up the local health care system of Iloilo,” he added.
Treñas said representatives of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine from Manila who visited the laboratory on Thursday were impressed and said the city-owned facility was even better than theirs.
The laboratory used to be located in a building for the Alternative Learning System while its permanent location was being constructed.
With its transfer to the new site, the old laboratory will be converted into an Uswag Iloilo City Clinical Laboratory and Diagnostic Center and will accept routine testing, such as complete blood count (CBC); blood chemistry, such as fasting blood sugar (FBS), cholesterol, uric acid, and Serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT); and screening for tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus.
It will also house the X-ray, electrocardiogram (ECG), and ultrasound machines.
Treñas said it has been his dream to see city residents no longer experiencing the difficulty of queuing in other hospitals, now that they have a clinical laboratory that they can go to.PNA
