The Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) has announced on Saturday, July 11, that they have secured Department of Health (DOH) and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) accreditations to officially start operations of MCIA’s own molecular laboratory to run COVID-19 tests.| Photos courtesy of MCIAA
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Mactan Cebu International Airport’s (MCIA) own molecular laboratory is now operational to do coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tests.
This after airport officers from the MCIA Authority (MCIAA) announced on Saturday, June 11, that they have received accreditation from the Department of Health (DOH) and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to implement COVID-19 tests.
“It (MCIA’s molecular lab) holds a BSL-2 certification from the Department of Health (DOH) and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM),” MCIAA said in a statement released on Saturday.
As a result, MCIA becomes the first airport in the country to have its dedicated COVID-19 testing laboratory that employs the ‘gold standard’ real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) techniques.
The 400-square meter laboratory, according to MCIAA, is designed to process around 1,500 to 3,000 tests per day whose results may be produced after 24 hours.
“When it became clear that testing capability was going to be a prerequisite for the resumption of international travel, we immediately embarked on the ambitious project of putting up the fastest built and accredited molecular laboratory with the capability to do mass testing and generate results in the quickest possible time,” MCIAA General Manager and lawyer Steve Dicdican was quoted as saying.
MCIA’s molecular laboratory is the 4th facility in Cebu accredited to carry out COVID-19 tests.
Two of the three are found in DOH in Central Visayas’ compound and Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City. The other one is housed in a privately owned hospital in Lapu-Lapu City.
Four more private hospitals and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) are currently processing their respective accreditation to do COVID-19 tests in their laboratories. /dbs