Congressman Michael “Mike” Defensor has pledged to build new molecular diagnostic laboratories to provide Quezon City’s 2.94 million residents with “transformative point-of-care screening services for multiple diseases, including the next pandemic virus.”
“The residents of Quezon City deserve access to world-class automated testing services for diseases, and we are determined to give it to them,” Defensor, who is running for city mayor, said in a statement on Sunday.
“We intend to put up at least three molecular testing labs – one each for the Quezon City General Hospital, the Novaliches District Hospital, and the Rosario Maclang Bautista General Hospital,” Defensor said.
At present, the three hospitals run by the Quezon City government do not have their own molecular screening labs. They end up outsourcing all their specimen testing to private facilities, thus causing holdups in patient diagnosis and treatment, Defensor said.
“We cannot have delays in patient diagnosis and treatment during a public health emergency,” Defensor, Anakalusugan party-list representative in Congress, said.
The envisioned molecular testing labs would run on the “gold standard” GeneXpert platform, according to Defensor.
“They would be capable of detecting not only COVID-19 and the next pandemic virus, but also a wide range of diseases, such as multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis, cervical cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer, and meningitis,” Defensor said.
Defenso also pledged to build new molecular diagnostic laboratories to provide Quezon City’s 2.94 million residents with “transformative point-of-care screening services for multiple diseases, including the next pandemic virus.”
“The residents of Quezon City deserve access to world-class automated testing services for diseases, and we are determined to give it to them,” Defensor, who is running for city mayor, said in a statement on Sunday.
“We intend to put up at least three molecular testing labs – one each for the Quezon City General Hospital, the Novaliches District Hospital, and the Rosario Maclang Bautista General Hospital,” Defensor said.
At present, the three hospitals run by the Quezon City government do not have their own molecular screening labs. They end up outsourcing all their specimen testing to private facilities, thus causing holdups in patient diagnosis and treatment, Defensor said.
“We cannot have delays in patient diagnosis and treatment during a public health emergency,” Defensor, Anakalusugan party-list representative in Congress, said.
The envisioned molecular testing labs would run on the “gold standard” GeneXpert platform, according to Defensor.
“They would be capable of detecting not only COVID-19 and the next pandemic virus, but also a wide range of diseases, such as multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis, cervical cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer, and meningitis,” Defensor said.