The UP Manila National Institutes of Health (NIH) was one of the first responders to the country’s call for an expanded COVID-19 testing capacity. Initially, we thought that setting up a SARS CoV2 testing laboratory would be a breeze because the NIH Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Central Laboratory has been doing tests for highly infectious agents such as HIV and Hepatitis for many years; but, we were wrong.
Understandably, a laboratory that will be testing a novel, highly transmissible virus needs to comply with stringent requirements for it to be safe. There should be adequate space in the building, a working air handling system with negative pressure, certification of biosafety level 2 cabinets, and calibration of SARS CoV2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines as well as other instruments. UP Manila, through Chancellor Carmencita Padilla and Vice Chancellor Arlene Samaniego, provided the seed money for the laboratory to function.
The staff who would be performing the testing also needed influenza vaccinations; and our beloved, the late Dr. Sally Gatchalian promptly assisted us with the procurement of the vaccines. It took almost 2 weeks to have the NIH Molecular Laboratory for COVID 19 to be biosafety level 2 accredited; and immediately after passing the proficiency testing, we hit the road and started the COVID-19 testing.
During its first 8 weeks of operation, the NIH COVID-19 Testing Laboratory was run by about 30 volunteer staff who were NIH research faculty and university researchers, faculty of UP Manila, and research assistants of Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-funded molecular biology research projects. Because of the enhanced community quarantine, everyone had to be provided meals and accommodations. UP Manila administration responded speedily by giving space in the 6th floor of the UP Manila dormitory. PGH Director Gap Legaspi made sure that the Dietary Department delivered meals to our volunteers everyday.
By the 9th week, all the volunteers had to go back to their DOST-funded research projects. Fortunately, through the Department of Health (DOH) Human Resource for Health Augmentation program, the NIH was able to hire new staff — a pathologist, medical technologists, molecular biologists, and encoders who are now the new NIH COVID-19 Testing Team.
The NIH COVID-19 Testing Lab is part of the DOH network of laboratories all over the country which met regularly to discuss technical matters and supply chain problems. Not being a DOH subnational laboratory however, the NIH did not receive any funding to perform the COVID-19 testing. And yet to date, for the 13,740 tests that we have done so far, we have not charged a single centavo. We were able to serve the PGH patients as well as 29 other hospitals and community quarantine centers within the catchment area of PGH.
The DOH and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine understood our predicament and provided support in the form of swabs and viral transport media, viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) extraction kits, and PCR kits. The PGH through Director Gap Legaspi and Dr. Dennis Serrano, Head of Logistics of the PGH COVID Crisis Team, also extended aid when supplies were running low.
Setting up and running a laboratory in a crisis situation taught us many lessons. We have learned to be resourceful and resilient during the time of lockdown. We were able to strengthen our resolve to respond to the testing needs of our country despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles. We also witnessed firsthand, how organizations from different sectors of our society and even individuals helped answer the country’s need to test, trace, and treat this menace. The outpouring of support and solidarity kindled by this shared challenge was phenomenal. It warmed our hearts knowing that there were so many selfless and generous people who chose to prioritize helping others during this extraordinarily trying time of our lives.
Dr. Eva Maria Cutiongco-Dela Paz | Published in Healthscape Special COVID-19 Issue No. 11
