City of San Fernando—Former fourth district congresswoman Anna York Bondoc is calling for the immediate banning of rapid testing for the coronavirus.
She said the method is a waste of resources, time and effort as other countries has put a stop to this kind of medical activities due to inaccuracy of results.
"Rapid testing is not accurate and must be stopped now!" Bondoc said in her video statement posted on her social media page, as part of her advocacy to stop this wrong clinical practice.
In her appeal to Malacanang, Bondoc, a pulmonary doctor and critical care specialist by profession, said rapid testing or anti-body testing is unreliable due to its wrong clinical use.
The former solon requested President Rodrigo Duterte to ban rapid testing immediately. She said this anti-body testing was agreed by international medical professionals to be unreliable due to its numerous false positive and false negative results.
The former solon cited an example in the Balik Probinsya program of the government, where a big number of rapid testing recipients who tested negative turned out positive after they arrived in their respective destinations.
"The wrong clinical results and decisions have been fueling the rise of coronavirus cases not only in Metro Manila but also in other parts of the country." Bondoc said.
Rapid testing for the diagnosis of COVID-19 patients is inaccurate and unreliable has been banned internationally by different countries including Australia, Dubai, India, and others.
Abused and wrong use of rapid testing is widely occurring daily perpetuated by both the government and private sectors. Bondoc said.
Medical societies in the Philippines, Bondoc said, have already agreed to stop rapid testing and should not be used to diagnose acute COVID-19 cases.
She said many casinos, restaurants, malls, hospitals, and other establishments have required their employees to undergo rapid testing every two weeks.
“Big corporations are requiring their employees for rapid testing before returning to work. This will happen again en masse after the modified enhance community quarantine (MECQ),” she added.
Bondoc said many local government units (LGUs) and other agencies require rapid testing for unclear reasons. Hospitals also requires patients to test before going to operating room, delivery, or even before admission.
She added that rapid tests have causing financial hardship.
“No work no pay for a false positive test. LGUs wasted time and effort sending to quarantine those false positive, whereas those false negatives are sent back to community unmindful of the danger that they might spread the virus,” she said.
Bondoc said she tried to send a letter through electronic mail to the President and repeatedly called the Office of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), but nobody answered.
"Rapid testing must be stopped, it is seriously damaging the country's effort in combatting COVID 19," said Bondoc.