SAN JOSE, Antique – Four more patients under investigation (PUIs) in this province were discharged on March 23 after their laboratory results for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) came out negative, bringing the total now to eight.
Antique Integrated Provincial Health Office chief Dr. Ric Noel Naciongayo said that of the 13 PUIs who were admitted at the Angel Salazar Memorial General Hospital (ASMGH) since March 5, the first four were discharged over the weekend.
“Our good news is that an additional four PUIs will be discharged today because they will no longer be necessitating in-patient care,” he said.
The laboratory results of the eight PUIs turned out negative based on the examination conducted by the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa.
“We are just waiting for the results of the five remaining PUIs – which we hope would also be negative – to arrive because they are also in good clinical condition now,” Naciongayo added.
As of March 22, Antique has 41 PUIs who were home-quarantined because they only exhibited mild COVID-19 symptoms such as cough and are being managed by their respective local health authorities. The same day, meanwhile, recorded some 4,248 persons under monitoring in this province.
Naciongayo said they are now coordinating with the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) in Mandurriao, Iloilo City in hopes that they could also avail the service of its COVID-19 laboratory.
“I learned that there were personnel of the RITM who have flown now to train the personnel at the WVMC in Iloilo city on how to use test kits on COVID-19,” he said.
Antique lone district representative Loren Legarda and Gov. Rhodora Cadiao have been exploring possibilities of purchasing COVID-19 test kits from abroad.
Naciongayo said: “It is not that simple to only buy test kits from abroad because of the standard country requirements.”
He added that with the trained WVMC personnel, the laboratory specimens of PUIs in Antique can be transported faster.
“The WVMC already has an existing laboratory set up and is capable of doing testing on dengue, which is a disease needing the same laboratory procedure for COVID-19,” Naciongayo stressed.(With a report from PNA/PN)
