BY CARLA P. GOMEZ
A molecular laboratory with the capacity to conduct 1,000 COVID-19 tests a day is set to rise in southern Negros Occidental, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said yesterday.
The second COVID-19 laboratory of the provincial government that will be located at the Valladolid District Hospital in Valladolid town is a joint venture with a private firm, he said.
It will be at no cost to the provincial government, Diaz said.
Safeguard Diagnostics Inc. will lease space at the Valladolid District Hospital at P95,000 a month for the laboratory and pay the provincial government 5 percent of its gross receipts, he said.
The laboratory that will use US technology is expected to be operational in a month as soon as the building space is repaired, Diaz said.
The Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan on Tuesday approved the lease contract to be entered into by the provincial government and Safeguard Diagnostics Inc. for its lease of 270 square meters located at the Valladolid District Hospital for use as a molecular laboratory for COVID-19 testing for five years.
The SP also granted Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson authority to sign the contract in behalf of the provincial government.
Meanwhile, the provincial government’s supplies for its Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital molecular laboratory for COVID-19 tests in Silay City have arrived, and the backlog in the release of results is being addressed, Diaz said.*
