Gordon

Affordable mass testing is key — Gordon

January 14, 2022 Lee Ann P. Ducusin 318 views

AMID the sharp spike in COVID-19 cases in the country, the Philippine Red Cross is urging the public to get tested immediately for early detection of the virus to stem its further spread.

Senator Richard J. Gordon, PRC chairman, and CEO pointed out that even fully vaccinated individuals can still be carriers of the virus and can affect children, senior citizens, and unvaccinated individuals.

“Napakahalaga ng testing dahil dito mo malalaman if mayroon kang COVID-19 o wala. Right now we offer the best-priced RT-PCR test in the country,” he said.

Gordon further said that while the PRC’s COVID testing is the lowest-priced, they are still finding more ways to further lower its prices to make it even more affordable to the public.

“Pinag-aaralan namin ‘yan. Syempre, mayroon tayong gastusin to support our operations. We introduced the Saliva RT-PCR test which is also a gold standard for testing and a lower-priced alternative to Swab RT-PCR test,” he added.

Last Sept. 2, 2021, the Philippine Red Cross announced to the public that RT-PCR tests for swab and saliva prices were reduced by 25%. From P3,800.00 to P2,800 for a swab RT-PCR test and P2,000.00 to P1500 for a saliva RT-PCR test.

To date, PRC has 14 molecular laboratories nationwide, which have conducted over 5 million tests, accounting for a majority of all tests nationwide by a wide margin.

The PRC’s molecular laboratories started with the vision of Sen. Dick Gordon, who saw testing as a way to “drain the swamp” and that unmasking the invisible enemy through testing would be vital in the fight against the virus.

At that time, the country had to rely heavily on the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and a couple of hospitals that could only test for COVID-19 at 300 a day.

“We are number one when it comes to testing sa buong bansa. But more importantly, through our testing, we save millions of lives and prevent others from getting sick kasi madedetect natin agad kung sino ang may Covid at mabilis natin sila ma-isolate,” the PRC chairman said.

To make testing accessible to people who want to get tested, PRC has an existing partnership with the different shopping centers such as SM Supermalls, Robinsons, Araneta City, and Ayala Malls that serve as saliva collection sites.

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