Senator Richard J. Gordon, chairman and CEO of the Philippine Red Cross, expressed optimism that the PRC’s COVID-19 testing capacity will be enhanced by the opening of a testing center in Cagayan De Oro, which will be built through the generosity of Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare Philippines, Inc. (Lysol Philippines).
Gordon, on Friday, received the donation for the construction of a molecular laboratory in Cagayan De Oro, which will be equipped with two polymerase reaction chain machines that are capable of running a combined total of 2,000 tests per day.
“We welcome Lysol, one of the biggest companies in the world, as our partner in helping control the spread of COVID-19. They are a company who has invested most of their resources to studying pathogens and developing solutions that can kill these…,” he said.
Aside from donating funds for the facility, Lysol Philippines, represented by its general manager in the country, Aleli Arcilla, also donated an equivalent amount to the PRC’s COVID Samaritan fund intended to cover testing costs for indigent Filipinos. The company also donated Lysol products.
“Your generosity will allow us to build another testing center and has contributed significantly to our COVID-18 Samaritan fund that will shoulder the processing fees to test around 5,000 Filipinos from the most susceptible groups. Thank you and also to Lysol South East Asia general manager Gonzalo Balcanzar,” Gordon said.
The PRC already opened three molecular laboratories in order to ensure victory over COVID by unmasking the virus in order to isolate, conduct contact tracing and treat those who are infected. Two of the facilities are located in PRC’s national headquarters along EDSA, while the other one is located in its former national headquarters in Port Area, Manila. All three facilities are equipped with four PCR machines each that capable of running a combined total of 12,000 tests per day.
The PRC is also set to open testing centers in Subic, Clark, Batangas, Laguna and Cebu in the next few weeks and several others will be constructed in other areas across the country./Stacy Ang
