The Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC) has resumed the operation of its Biosafety Level 2 Molecular Laboratory in Barangay Tumaga, this city, according to its chief of hospital.
The molecular laboratory was placed on lockdown after 12 of its personnel contracted coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) last week.
However, ZCMC chief of hospital Dr. Afdal Kunting clarified that the molecular laboratory is still operating on a “limited capacity” as their personnel have yet to be fully accustomed to the facility.
Kunting said the newly assigned personnel consist of nine medical technologists provided to them by the Department of Health (DOH) regional office.
He said that the maximum testing capacity of the molecular laboratory is 270 a day, but currently, they can only test less than 100 specimens of Covid-19 a day.
He cited that only 78 specimens were tested Tuesday, while 21 and 46 specimens were tested on Monday and Sunday, respectively.
The Biosafety Level 2 Molecular Laboratory tests specimens not only from local hospitals but also other parts of the region, including Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, which are part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“There are backlogs now unlike before it only takes two days to know the result of specimens from other areas. Now it takes three to four days,” Kunting said.
The facility formerly served as the Department of Agriculture’s Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.
It was converted last year into Biosafety Level 2 Molecular Laboratory following the declaration of Covid-19 as a pandemic.
Source: Philippines News Agency
