QC PR
After piloting the community-based testing last week, the Quezon City government is set to open new testing centers in all 6 districts this week to accommodate residents who are suspected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“We are opening more testing centers located in different districts so that we can accommodate and identify more residents who might have COVID-19,,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said.
On Monday (April 20), Districts 4, 5, and 6 will have its own testing centers.
District 5 testing center will be located at SB Park Novaliches while District 6’s own testing center is situated at the University of the Philippines’ Asian Institute of Tourism along Commonwealth Avenue.
The first community-based testing center inaugurated last week at the Quezon City Experience (QCX) in Quezon Memorial Circle (QMC) will now cater to District 4 residents.
As for Districts 1, 2 and 3, locations are still being finalized but will be opened on Tuesday.
These testing centers will be equipped with swab booths and will target 50 tests per day, including blood testing and x-ray examination. Testing centers will be in direct coordination with barangay health centers while district health officers will man and supervise the booths.
The city government aims to conduct around 1,800-2,000 swab tests per week, including those that will be administered by local government hospitals namely Quezon City General Hospital, Rosario Maclang Bautista General Hospital and Novaliches District Hospital and by the Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (QCESU) in their contact tracing.
Specimens from these facilities will be forwarded to partner hospitals Lung Center of the Philippines and St. Luke’s Medical Center-Quezon City for testing.
Also, the partnership between Quezon City government and Philippine Red Cross will also start this week with 1500 tests.
Meanwhile, community-based testing Project Manager Joseph Juico also shared that the city entered into a partnership with the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) to help in the community-based testing.
The QCPD has allotted 30 nurses and six medical technicians from the Philippine National Police (PNP), who will help the QCESU, led by Dr. Rolly Cruz, in contact tracing.
With the additional manpower, there will be a total of eight teams doing house-to-house confirmatory tests.
“The support of QCPD will help the city health department reach more communities per day, thereby helping identify who should be placed under quarantine,” Juico shared.
The nurses and medical technicians, who are trained to do nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabbing, will administer test for senior citizens based in various barangays.
They will also help in the swab testing in testing centers, and provide support in the city’s Hope quarantine facilities allotted for confirmed, suspected or probable COVID-19 patients.
For those who would like to undergo testing, the QC government requests its residents to coordinate with their barangay health officers for initial interview and assessment before they will be scheduled and brought to the testing centers.
Senior citizens will also be prioritized and assessed in their respective homes by the QCESU through coordination with their barangay health office.
