Yap cleared of Covid–19, DOH apologizes
BENGUET caretaker and ACT – CIS partylist representative Eric Go Yap was cleared of Coronavirus disease (Covid -19).
The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) of the Department of Health on March 27 publicly apologized to Yap for forwarding a false report of his Covid-19 results due to a clerical oversight saying the he remains negative for the disease.
"His results are by no means a false positive. This isolated incident was brought
about by an encoding error which was discovered late last night by the Molecular Biology Laboratory (MBL) of the Department of Health-Research Institute for Tropical Medicine," the RITM statement added.
The infectious and tropical diseases arm of the DOH added they maintain that their testing process is compliant with the World Health Organization (WHO) protocol, and that their results remain accurate despite the incident.
"The polymerase chain reaction testing procedure still stands as the gold standard in detecting the genetic sequence of the SARSCoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19. Again, we profusely and sincerely apologize to Hon. Eric Go Yap for the unnecessary discomfort this incident has caused," the statement added.
RITM said the individual responsible for the incident was enlisted as an augmentation staff from outside the regular workforce of the laboratory and is already being dealt with administratively.
"For the assurance of the public, we have reviewed all results we have previously forwarded and we affirm that this incident remains isolated. We have also added another layer of verification for all succeeding reports we will submit. We promise that this, and other associated incidents, will never happen again."
Yap meanwhile accepted the apology, adding for the past two days, it has been very hard on his part and everyone around him.
"Hindi naging madali ito pero buong puso kong tinatanggap ang apology ng DOHRITM. No less than Dr. Carlos called me up to explain what happened. Naiintindihan ko, they are the busiest medical facility in the country right now. Its not an excuse pero normal na nagkakaroon ng pagkakamali sa dami at sa pressure na tinatanggap ng RITM ngayon," Yap stated.
The solon said the recent pronouncement from the health agency is not a cause for celebration as millions of Filipinos are still affected by the current crisis.
Yap said he does not harbor hard feelings towards anybody and urged everyone to stay at home and be safe from the virus.
"This is just a clerical error and should not be taken against RITM, hindi sila nagkamali ng pagprocess ng samples ko, hindi sila nagkamali sa basa ng results ko. I thank God for this news but let us not keep our guards down. Sama sama pa din natin sugpuin ang Covid."
Following the clarification made by the health department, the Benguet Congressional District-Office also conveyed to resume its operations and service to the province starting today, March 30.