UP Mindanao and DRMC COVID-19 Testing Lab in Davao Region Operational by June

“We are looking at a time frame for the COVID-19 diagnostic laboratory to be operational by June,” revealed Dr. Lyre Anni Murao, a professor of virology at the University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao and director of the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) Mindanao.

The testing laboratory, which will be constructed at the Davao Regional Medical Center (DRMC) in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, is expected to supplement the testing being done at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), currently the only recognized subnational referral center for the disease in Mindanao. The initial staff for the said lab will include the laboratory personnel from PGC Mindanao and DRMC, as well as trained volunteers.

Since March, delegates from University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao has met with local government units, the Department of Health (DOH)Region XI, DRMC, and private sector groups to discuss the proposal to set up a COVID-19 testing laboratory and increase the testing capacity of the Davao Region.

Dr. Murao said, “We already have the go signal of DOH to proceed with the project, and engineers are making the plans that will be submitted to DOH for review and approval. When the plans are approved, construction can proceed.”

In his letter to UP Mindanao, DRMC chief Dr. Bryan Dalid affirms its commitment to the implementation of the project. “With the continuous increase of COVID-19 cases in the region, this proposed facility will significantly contribute to monitoring and controlling the further escalation of this disease. We hope that the parties will translate all tangible and intangible commitments into a formal Memorandum of Agreement in the soonest time possible,” he said.

The MOA between UP Mindanao, DRMC, LGUs, and the private sector is yet to be signed.

Construction of Laboratory

The plan to develop a separate lab at DRMC was welcomed by the medical center, revealed DRMC chief medical technologist Alma Huerta. “Our goal is for better management of patients because as a hospital assigned to receive COVID-19 cases, our coverage is broad. Having the testing lab in DRMC will contribute to a much faster confirmatory test so we can better serve our patients,” she said.

Because of the risk posed by COVID-19, the project is strictly following the guidelines set by DOH in facility design and the workflow of operations. Dr. Murao said, “The core facility lab that we are making will be in two forty-footer container vans that are airtight, and we have carefully identified the lab site in DRMC that needs to be isolated.”

In a phone interview, DRMC infection control nurse Christine Evalaroza said DOH has provided the medical center with a checklist to assess their readiness as part of the accreditation process. “A team is working to accomplish the requirements in the checklist for the accreditation of DRMC as a facility for COVID-19 testing,” she said.

When accreditation is granted by DOH, through the Research Center for Tropical Medicine, there will be no need to send swab samples to Manila, said Dr. Murao. “The lab can produce results for priority patients, such as probable cases, within twenty-four hours. When fully operational, it is projected that the laboratory can handle 110 tests per day or 550 tests in a week [10 personnel per shift]. If DOH will approve mass testing, we can do that. The accreditation will also allow the laboratory to accept samples from any requesting hospital,” she added.

Capacitating Personnel

While planning is ongoing for the construction of the laboratory, PGC Mindanao has started training the first of two batches of scientist-volunteers and laboratory staff on diagnostics this week. After the training, the twenty-three participants will be deployed as personnel of the testing lab once it is established.

The week-long trainings for the two batches of participants, which are held at the microbiology and molecular biology laboratory of UP Mindanao in Mintal, Davao City, will focus on techniques and procedures on diagnostics for SARS-Cov-2, the virus responsible for the disease, and will provide hand-on experience in RNA extraction and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).

Dr. Murao said in an interview with the media, “The COVID-19 lab project is a collaboration between UP Mindanao and DRMC. As seen in the training today, the lab workforce we need are two teams of ten persons each. We presently have five personnel from DRMC and laboratory staff and scientist-volunteers of PGC Mindanao.”

Last March, PGC Mindanao issued a call for volunteers to augment the number of personnel for the proposed testing lab and has chosen 14 applicants to undergo training.

In a phone interview, DRMC chief medical technologist Alma Huerta also said they would add more personnel for training in the future. “We have an additional 14 medical technologists that we will train, and we plan to have the senior medical technologists deployed in the COVID-19 lab,” she said.

Dr. Murao said that PGC Mindanao staff and volunteers will serve in the laboratory for a few months, but as soon as the facility becomes fully operational and things are running smoothly, she hopes to turn over the facility fully to DRMC.

She explained, “The RNA extraction part is the bottleneck in our workflow because, typically, it is manual work. What we plan to do is to automate the process. With automation, the risk is less for the handler, and more samples can be processed at any given time. After extraction, the polymerase chain reaction or PCR, which we often hear in the news, is the second part of the testing process.”

Set-up and Operation Costs

Regarding the budget for operations, Dr. Murao stated that the project will need PhP 15 to 16 million for initial set-up cost and an additional PhP 8 million for monthly operation cost. “DRMC will shoulder the monthly operation cost. For the set-up cost, we have funding from the Davao del Norte LGU and the private sector,” she said.

Davao del Norte LGUs had earlier expressed their support for the initiative. In a joint letter to UP Mindanao, provincial governor Edwin Jubahib, Tagum City mayor Allan Rellon, and Samal Island mayor Al David Uy affirmed their commitment to supporting the project with appropriate funding.

“While we are implementing counter-measures to prevent the spread of the virus, we also recognize the vital role of collaborative efforts, especially in expertise and resources. We wish to inform you that we support your proposal to establish a diagnostic laboratory for COVID-19 in the Province, specifically the set-up cost to the extent of P12,000,000.00,” they wrote.

Dino Mae Suelto, a UP alumnus and managing partner at Maer Summit Group, is also instrumental in mobilizing support from the private sector to procure much-needed equipment like PCR machines and provide additional testing kits for the lab to use.

“Having test kits is crucial,” said Dr. Murao. “Should a shortage of kits occur, our capacity will surely decrease. But UP Manila has developed cost-effective test kits that we hope can contribute to the supply of kits,” she said.

Last month, DOH was already looking to add more COVID-19 testing centers for Mindanao. Dr. Murao said, “With Mindanao being so vast and having a large population, it does not make sense to only have SPMC for COVID-19 testing here. Setting up this lab is such as huge task, but we are grateful to be working with DOH, DRMC, the local governments, and the private sector to make this happen.”