WVMC seeks accreditation as COVID-19 test center

THE WESTERN Visayas Medical Center (WVMC), located in Iloilo City, has applied to be accredited as one of the test centers in the country for the coronavirus disease, formally named COVID-19. “We are still waiting for the results of their evaluation until now. We want to know if the WVMC is capable to serve as a testing center. We hope it will be approved,” said Roland Jay Fortuna, focal person of the Iloilo City COVID-19 Task Force. He noted that there is no diagnostic center yet for the new virus in the Western Visayas Region. The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), with assistance from the World Health Organization, has so far been capacitating five subnational laboratories, namely: San Lazaro Hospital and Lung Center of the Philippines in Manila; Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center in northern Luzon; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City; and the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City. “Unlike dengue when we had an ample supply of test kits because these are just easy test kits, however for COVID-19, the testing facilities are being accredited by the RITM and now we only have five (in the country),” he said.

MONITORING

As of March 11, there is one patient within the region admitted in hospital for observation of the disease, based on the Department of Health (DoH) tracker. The Iloilo City government, meanwhile, is monitoring 82 persons, mostly overseas Filipino workers who have recent travel history from countries with confirmed COVID-19 cases. “They are considered PUMs (persons under monitoring). We are asking them to go on (home) quarantine and once they exhibit signs and symptoms, then they will be referred to the proper hospital,” Mayor Jerry P. Treñas told the media. Mr. Treñas also appealed to the DoH to send test kits to the region for faster diagnosis. “I am speaking for the rest of Western Visayas. We don’t have any test kits here. I am speaking to the DoH, and I think it is your responsibility to provide test kits to all the regions. We in the LGUs (local government units) are doing our job and the DoH should do the same, it is a matter of right,” said the mayor of Iloilo, which serves as the regional center. —