GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 29 Nov) – The city government has formally opened the newly-upgraded clinical laboratory of the city hospital that is now equipped with around P30-million worth of modern machines and equipment.
Mayor Ronnel Rivera led the unveiling of the enhanced laboratory on Monday at the local government-operated Dr. Jorge P. Royeca Hospital.
He said the facility mainly features 11 state-of the-art machines and equipment that are capable of conducting at least 83 laboratory tests.
The new equipment are similar to those being used by top hospitals in the country, among them the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Metro Manila and the Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu, he said.
“In terms of capability, our hospital laboratory is now comparable with some of the best private hospitals,” Rivera said.
Hospital officials earlier said some of the new equipment were acquired from top manufacturers in the United States and France.
These include a clinical chemistry analyzer, electrolyte analyzer, arterial blood gas analyzer, glycated hemoglobin or HBa1c analyzer, US-made fully-automated immunoserology analyzer, France-made fully-automated immunoserology analyzer, five-part hematology analyzer, fully-automated coagulation analyzer, semi-automated coagulation analyzer, semi-automated urine strip reader, and semi-automated crossmatching analyzer.
“We can now assert that the results of the tests conducted by our laboratory are accurate and credible,” the mayor said.
Glenvil Gonzales, assistant city administrator, said the laboratory can now provide “faster, accurate and cheaper” laboratory tests.
He said the charges were set as low as P40 for basic tests like urinalysis and reasonable rates for the more complex type of examination.
“The mayor told us that all laboratory services of senior citizens from the city will be for free,” he said.
The city hospital’s upgraded laboratory, which operates 24/7, is located beside its new administration building.
The upgrading of the laboratory is a part of the city government’s efforts to seek the city hospital’s accreditation by next year as a Level II facility.
The local government has set the expansion in 2017 of the ward facilities of the city hospital, which is classified as a 100-bed secondary facility, to cope with its rising admission rate. (MindaNews)