Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has announced that about 120,000 COVID-19 testing kits will be manufactured and will enter field implementation by April 4 until 25. Funded by DOST, the University of the Philippines-National Institute of Health (UP-NIH) scientists, as led by Dr. Raul V. Destura, will make the newly-developed SARS CoV-2 PCR Detection Kit available to several general hospitals and private sectors.
DOST Secretary, Fortunato Dela Peña said, that Certificate of Product Registration (CPR) from the Food and Drug Administration Philippines (FDA) is expected to be issued by Friday.
“We have also informed the FDA that submission of requirements for CPR will be made on Wednesday, April 1 at the latest,” de la Peña added.
The detection kits will be manufactured by The Manila HealthTek Inc. Out of 120,000 testing kits, 26,000 will be made available for field implementation and distribution to the Philippine General Hospital, Makati Medical Center, The Medical City, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Southern Philippines Medical Center, and Baguio General Hospital.
As for the remaining P94,000 testing kits, it will be sold commercially by the manufacturer at around P1,300 per kit. This is said to be significantly cheaper compared to the current kits that cost around P8,000. Several private sectors have already ordered from Manila Healthtek with intentions to donate to the Department of Health and other hospitals.
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