Republic of the Philippines

Department of Health
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

MEGA SWABBING CENTER IN MOA ARENA, BIGGEST BY FAR;

Operation to start on Monday
Press Release/08 May 2020

Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, with National Action Plan Against COVID-19 Deputy
Chief Implementer Secretary Vivencio Dizon and Philippine Red Cross Chairperson Senator
Richard Gordon, inspected today the designated southern sector swabbing center in the SM Mall
of Asia Arena, the biggest among the centers previously inspected.

Said mega swabbing center has 72 testing booths that will be manned by a pool of health
personnel hired by the Department of Health and the Philippine National Police medical staff. It
is expected to add up to 1,500 tests in our country’s daily testing capacity.

“Having swabbing sites this big is really important in our fight against COVID-19. With its
1,000-1,500 daily testing capacity, we are assured that we have enough facility to test our
returning Overseas Filipinos, and later on, those in their respective communities as we help their
local government,” Sec. Duque said.

He emphasized, however, that the increase in specimen collection capacity must be matched with
an increase in laboratory processing capacity. That is why, according to the Health Chief, the
DOH has been ramping up its assessment and evaluation processes to fast track the accreditation
of at least 61 laboratories nationwide, six of which are now in the level of proficiency testing and
are expected to receive their accreditation certificate soon.

PRC Chairman Senator Gordon explained the importance of proper tagging and encoding of
specimens and the personal information of the person being tested. According to him, the
swabbers and the encoders, including the barcoders must all work together to ensure accuracy of
data to ultimately avoid delay. The specimens collected, tagged and encoded from all the mega
swabbing centers will be processed by the PRC.

“I’d like to congratulate Sec. Vince Dizon and Sec. Duque for acting very, very fast [in
establishing these mega swabbing centers]. I’m thankful that they have a listening ear,
naisagawa natin ito​,” said Sen. Gordon, expressing his thanks and optimism on the partnership
of the government with PRC in this endeavor.
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