TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, July 17 (PIA) – – Once certified to augment and expand the testing capacity of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), the Cagayan Valley Medical Center (CVMC) Molecular Testing Laboratory for COVID-19 is expected to open on August 3.

Dr. Glenn Matthew Baggao, medical center chief, said the physical building has been completed and three Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machines are now ready to be operated.

He said officials from the RITM and Department of Health central office are scheduled to visit the laboratory on July 27 to conduct final assessment if it passes their standards.

“If we will pass the standards of RITM and DOH, they will give us permit to operate already. We are expecting to formally inaugurate the laboratory on August 3,” Baggao said.

Baggao further said that the laboratory is expected to operate 24/7 as they have already trained medical technologists to man it.

He added that aside from the manpower who were sent for training in Baguio City in previous months, there are additional 25 medical technologists funded by DOH, eight laboratory technicians and 10 administrative assistants who will be manning the laboratory.

Baggao believes that the presence of the second COVID-19 testing laboratory in Cagayan Valley – next to the laboratory located at the DOH regional office here, will facilitate fast release of test results of COVID suspects. (BME/OTB/PIA 2-Cagayan)