The city government of Baguio has thanked Benguet caretaker Eric Go Yap for the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and automated extraction machines he donated to the Benguet General Hospital, but is now temporarily being used by the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.
In a resolution, the city council expressed gratitude to Yap for his donations, which are loaned to the BGHMC, through a memorandum of agreement pending the construction of a Covid-19 testing laboratory for BeGH.
“Congressman Yap’s kind gesture in allowing the use of the RT-PCR and automated extraction machines and consumables purchased from his personal resources is worthy of recognition not only by the people and officialdom of Baguio City but also those in other areas in Northern Luzon being served by the sub-national testing laboratory,” the resolution read.
The council said the BGHMC officials also recognized the contribution of the P5 million worth machines including its consumables in speeding up the release of swab test results from the usual more than 10 days to four days only.
The council recognized Yap’s commitment for continuously sourcing out adequate supply of consumables for the testing machines and for turning over on June 10 assorted test kits that could produce some 10,000 tests.
This helped the BGHMC, one of the sub-national testing laboratories, to release Covid-19 test results immediately and conduct around 2,000 tests per day.
Yap also thanked the council for recognizing his efforts.
“Buong puso po tayong nagpapasalama sa pagkilalang ibinigay sa atin ng Baguio City sa pamamagitan ng Resolution 359-2020 na ipinasa ng kanilang sangguniang panlungsod,” he said.
Yap has recognized the important role of the BGHMC in fighting the pandemic since the hospital not only caters to people of Baguio and Benguet but also the whole of Northern Luzon.
“Alam po natin na hindi natin matatalo ang pandemic na ito kung mabagal at kakaunti ang bilang ng ating mga nate-test,” he said.
He said a molecular laboratory would soon be constructed at the BeGH to further assist in Covid-19 testing.
Yap also thanked the various frontliners particularly the medical professionals, police, government employees, and volunteers for keeping the community safe during the pandemic. – Ofelia C. Empian
