Bernadas: Swabbing center at DOH-7 compound accommodates testing for emergency purposes

The Department of Health in Central Visayas Center for Health and Development, led by Director Jaime Bernadas, holds a ceremonial launching of their swabbing center in Barangay Sambag 2, Cebu City on Friday, October 14, 2021. | Mae Fhel Gom-os

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) said that they would be accommodating individuals for COVID-19 test for emergency purposes at their compound in Barangay Sambag 2, Cebu City.

DOH-7 Director Jaime Bernadas, in an interview with CDN Digital, said that while their swabbing center would only cater to individuals in the morning, they would still accommodate those recognized as priorities in the afternoon, or beyond the daily schedule from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Bernadas assured this to the public, provided that they would call before they would come to the swabbing center.

“Actually ang naka-schedule man ta morning ra man atong schedule pero for some reasons nga naay mga priorities we can also naman  accommodate basta motawag lang sila daan,” said Bernadas following the ceremonial launching of the swabbing center on Friday, October 15, 2021.

(Actually, we are only scheduled to open in the morning, but for some reasons that there will be priorities, we can also accommodate them as long as they would call us in advance.)

“We accommodate to priorities pag may calls from operations centers, naay manawag ang Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Cebu, manawag ang EOC sa province or mga emergencies nga pa swab, mo accommodate ta, basta manawag lang sila,” he added.

(We will accommodate priorities if their are calls from operations centers. If there will be calls from Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Cebu. The EOC of the province will call or there are emergencies to be swabbed, we will accommodate them, just as long as they call us in advance.)

Bernadas emphasized the need to call the center so they could assess whether they were considered as priorities.

“We identify man kon priorities sila kon naa bitaw manawag kon dinalian or ingon ana,” he added.

(We identify if this are priorities if somebody would call and priorities or something like that.)

The regional director said that their swabbers were also scheduled in the afternoon to go to the hotels, isolation centers, and quarantine facilities.

With regards to the results, Bernadas said that it could be released within 16 to 48 hours.

As to the payment scheme, they have identified two categories where one can be asked to pay or undergo testing free of charge.

Bernadas said that once the person belonged to the expanded program of the Philippine Health Insurance (PhilHealth), he or she would be free of charge from the testing.

But to those who does not, they will be asked to pay an amount of P901.

Those that belong to the expanded program include persons who manifest symptoms and contacts of positive individuals, official travel, and official referrals from Rural Health Units (RHUs).

Meanwhile, Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, DOH-7 chief pathologist, said that their molecular facility for COVID-19 had its own Laboratory Information System (LIS), which was capable of the releasing of results as well as its processes.

Loreche said such fully-integrated healthcare information system, was capable of releasing reliable result in a timely manner and could automate the COVID-19 laboratory process.

The process of which include registration, specimen collection, receiving of specimen, testing, reading and interpreting of results, validation and posting of final results and data reporting.

DOH-7 officials, led by Bernadas, held a ceremonial launching not just to the swabbing center but also to the Integrated Public Health Laboratory, where tests would be done on clinical specimens in order to get information about the health of a patient as pertaining to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.

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