Iloilo City Government is planning to set up its testing laboratory to combat Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said City Hall is looking at procuring P15 million 40-footer container van equipped with complete facilities. The supplier will also be the one to process for accreditation. Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) will also help train medical technologists.
“This will be used as our own testing center,” said Treñas.
This, after the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) received extra P94-M Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) funds for fight against COVID-19. CTO noted the P94,641,934 which is equivalent to one month IRA is a Bayanihan Grant to Cities and Municipalities.
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) guidelines stated the grant boosts capacity in immediately responding to COVID-19 emergency.
DBM said the money shall be exclusively used for COVID-19 related Programs, Projects and Activities (PPAs) and expenses. These include procurement of equipment, reagents, and kits for testing; expenses for the operation of stand-alone/mobile testing laboratory; and training of personnel in the conduct of COVID-19 testing, among others. (Iloilo City PIO)
