Bohol gets green light to operate 

containerized RT-PCR testing lab

TAGBILARAN CITY, Aug. 25 (PIA) -- The first containerized reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) laboratory of the provincial government of Bohol located inside the Bohol Medical Care Institute (BMCI) compound along J. A. Clarin Street in Tagbilaran City was finally given its license to operate.

This after it passed the proficiency test of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) of the Department of Health (DOH).

“Good news! Nakapasar ang atong containerized PCR lab sa proficiency test sa DOH-RITM. Buot pasabot, mag-operate nata ug sugod sa atong PCR Laboratory (Good news! Our containerized PCR lab has passed the DOH-RITM proficiency test. This means we can now start to operate our PCR Lab)," Gov. Arthur Yap announced in a Facebook post on Aug. 24.

Before the announcement, Yap led the blessing of the said RT-PCR lab at 2:00 p.m. on Monday which signaled its formal operation.

This will now boost the capacity of Bohol province for the processing of swab samples in the province.

The P20-M testing laboratory of the province is capable of running a batch of 150 specimens within eight hours.

It can test specimens on a daily basis which would lessen the waiting time compared to that of tests being done at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City.

Before, swab samples from patients here had to be taken to VSMMC in Cebu City.

Recently, before the lab became operational, samples were sent to the laboratory at Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital (GCGMH) in the city after the first molecular laboratory in Bohol became operational.

Dr. Cesar Tomas Lopez, spokesperson of the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF), said the testing laboratory has eight medical technologists, one technician, one pathologist, and two encoders.

On July 31, 2020, the said containerized RT-PCR testing laboratory was inspected by Department of the Interior and Local Government Sec. Eduardo Año and Department of Tourism Sec. Bernadette Romulo-Puyat during their visit here in the province. (ecb/PIA7-Bohol)