BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The provincial government of Negros Occidental intends to put up another coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing laboratory through a joint venture with a private company.
Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, provincial administrator, said the province’s proposed second molecular laboratory will be constructed at the Valladolid District Hospital in partnership with Manila-based company Safeguard Diagnostics.
Safeguard Diagnostics, according to Diaz, will supply all of the equipment. The provincial government, meanwhile, will handle the funds for the proposed laboratory.
The province will receive P95,000 a month from the private company as a rent, and a five-percent rebate from the gross receipt of the company.
Diaz pointed out that aside from being beneficial to the residents of southern Negros, the molecular laboratory in Valladolid can serve as a secondary testing center in case the province’s main test laboratory at the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City encounters a problem.
He furthered that all of the machines and test kits that would be used will come from the United States./PN
