Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 9) — The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) said it now supports the use of rapid antibody tests specifically for companies that would like to test their employees.
PMA Spokesperson Oscar Tinio said that this is an alternative for the sector since the government has yet to test a big portion of the population.
Private firms can also easily conduct contract tracing since they keep records of their employees, Tinio explained.
This is just in time, as more businesses, especially those located in Metro Manila, resume operations as the country transitions to more relaxed quarantine restrictions, which became effective June 1.
However, Tinio clarified that there are conditions that must be followed when using these test kits.
“We’d like to push for doing tests provided that the tests are reliable, the specificities of the test would be of excellence standard, doctors should be the one who will do the tests or interpret the results, hindi po puwedeng kung sinu-sino lang ang gagawa, dapat talaga doctors (not just anyone can do it, only doctors can),” he said.
The PMA, along with other medical societies, warned employers of the use of rapid test kits when testing for COVID-19 since these may lead to inaccurate results, especially for the case of asymptomatic persons.
READ: Medical societies: Do not use antibody tests on returning workers
Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is considered to be the “gold standard” in COVID-19 testing.
In the country, there are 41 licensed RT-PCR laboratories and 13 licensed GeneXpert laboratories as of June 8. A total of 141 laboratories have applied for accreditation, with 118 of them at stage 3 or above in processing.
To date, cases in the country has breached 22,000.
