BAGUIO CITY – The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Baguio chapter has started offering saliva testing to determine if a person is positive of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Lawyer Erdolfo Balajadia, chairperson of the Board of PRC-Baguio, said on Tuesday the saliva testing activity will be held at the Melvin Jones grandstand every Tuesday.
It will later be offered as a regular activity of the chapter at their office along Harrison Road from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
He said interested clients can register online by filling up the form and paying PHP2,000 using GCash, Paymaya or thru Security Bank before proceeding to Melvin Jones or the Red Cross office.
“This is a new system that is already proven, kung gusto nila, subukan nila (if they want, they can try it),” Balajadia said.
He said the activity is a public service of the Red Cross that makes it easier to get specimen samples at a cheaper cost.
“Instead of the usual testing, saliva na lang, they will just spit, mas convenient. Hindi tutusukin ang ilong o lalamunan (it is just saliva, it is more convenient because there is no need to poke the nose or the throat to get a sample). Dito (with this). we just give the container to the client, the person will put saliva, give the container back and we will bring it to the Red Cross molecular laboratory in Clark where it will be examined,” Balajadia said.
He said the result would be released between 24 to 48 hours and will be sent directly to the client by the molecular laboratory.
Balajadia, however, clarified that saliva testing is not meant to compete with the existing molecular laboratories in the city.
“We are not competing with the other testers doing this because we are cheaper and convenient, Red Cross is doing this for public service to people who refuse to undergo testing because of the poking of the nostrils and throat,” he said. **PNA
