The Department of Health (DOH) has encouraged the public to go to “home service” for COVID-19 tests if they need to get tested right away.
Recently, the video of Robin Padilla, who tested himself for COVID-19, went viral after the nurse who was supposed to give it to them before working did not come.
“Sana po hindi ho natin maging basehan ito para masundan ng mga ibang kababayan natin. Kung kailangan ho nating magpa-swab, meron ho tayong mga lisensyadong laboratoryo, o ‘di kaya meron namang mga laboratories po na nagho-homeservice na lisensyado rin ng Department of Health,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
“Dito po tayo pumunta para sigurado pong may quality at accurate ang makukuha nating mga resulta.”
The DOH is still not contacting actor Robin Padilla due to his controversial self-swab recently. However, they have reportedly told their regional office to conduct monitoring.
Earlier, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that the results of the self-swab tests could be questionable if they were not professionally trained, just like Robin did.
“Meron tayong mga panuntunan o pamantayan para gawin ‘yan. Hindi puwedeng sarili mong gagawin ‘yan (We have protocols for swabbing. You can’t just do it yourself),” Duque said.
DOH recommends ‘home service’ than self-swab COVID-19 testing
“Kung hindi naman ito naaayon sa mga tamang pamantayan ay kaduda-duda ang magiging resulta so hindi po natin dapat ginagawa ito (Your result will be questionable if you did not meet standards so let’s not do it ourselves),” he added.
Although home test kits are permitted in other countries such as the United Kingdom, there is no such approval in the Philippines.
“Alam naman po natin na meron tayong pamantayan, mga standards na pinapatupad para tayo po ay magkaroon ng dekalidad at tska masiguro natin na accurate ang ating resulta,” said Vergeire.
“At nakalagay po ‘yan sa ating mga guidelines or protocol na kailangan po healthcare worker ang gumagawa ng ating swabbing, kailangan po ng maayos na proseso, kailangan po tayong naka-PPE at marami pa pong nakalagay diyan.”
According to the latest government report, COVID-19 has hit 1,200,430 people in the Philippines. Of that number, 20,379 died of the disease.
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