Inihayag ng Department of Science and Technology, Lunes, na maaasahan na ng publiko ang pag-apruba sa locally-made COVID-19 test kits ngayon linggo.
“The field validation for the COVID-19 testing kits is ongoing and is expected to be finished by Wednesday, April 1,” - Pahayag ni Science Secretary Fortunato de la Peña
Gumawa din noong ng test kit noon ang University of the Philippines National Institute of Health (UP-NIH) at the Philippine Genome Center para sa SARS at tinawag itong SARS-CoV-2 PCR Detection Kit sa tulong at supporta na din ng Department of Science and Technology. Ang kit ay manufactured ng Healthtek Inc.
Ayon kay Secretary De la Peña nakatanggap ng Certificate of Exemption ang test kit galing sa Food and Drug Administration (FDA) kaya handa na ito.
“We have informed the FDA that requirements for CPR Certification will be submitted on Wednesday, April 1 at the latest,” sinabi ng Kalihim.
Dagdag ng Department of Science and Technology (DOST), ang mga naturang test kit ay ipapagamit na kung saan 120,000 unit ang kanilang unang ginawa para sa unang batch.
Ang paunang 26,000 test kit ay ibabahagi sa April 4 to 25 sa Philippine General Hospital, Makati Medical Center, The Medical City, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Southern Philippines Medical Center , at Baguio General Hospital. At ang natitirang 94,000 testing kits ay ibibinta sa merkado.
“The remaining 94,000 testing kits will be sold commercially by Manila HealthTek at around P1,300 per kit which is cheaper than the units currently being used in hospitals which cost about P8,000,” Paliwanag ni De la Peña.
