PRC opens ‘drive- thru’ swab test in San Carlos mall

By Yolanda Fuertes

SAN CARLOS CITY – Residents of this city and neighboring towns can avail of Reverse Transcriptions Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing by driving through at the Magic Mall here.
    The Philippine Red Cross inked a memorandum of agreement with Magic Mall of Companies recently for the use of an area of the mall here for drive through saliva collection and RT-PCR testing.
    The MOA was signed by PRC board of director chairperson Maybelyn Fernandez and Dagupan City Mayor Brian Lim whose family owns the Magic Mall of Companies.
    Lim said the Dagupan City government was one of the local government units which partnered with the PRC during the early months of the pandemic, and that the Magic Mall was happy to provide a convenient place for saliva collection for people that need RT-PCR tests.

Fernandez said the saliva RT-PCR testing is not invasive compared to the nasopharyngeal swab but has almost the same accuracy at 98 percent.

She thanked the Magic for allocating a space for the saliva collection, as the mall is strategically located in central Pangasinan and is accessible to residents of other towns.

The saliva RT-PCR is convenient, accessible and affordable, she said, explaining that those who want to be tested need not go out of their vehicles as the collection tube would be handed over to them.\This means the staff need not wear personal protective equipment, she said.\

It is also cheaper at P2,000 compared to the swab test cost of P4,000 and above.

The PRC would provide properly trained and qualified personnel for the testing on mornings of Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The collected specimen would be sent to the PRC’s molecular laboratory and the results would be emailed to the concerned residents within two days.

Magic is third mall in Pangasinan where saliva collection RT-PCR testing is done. The others are the CB Mall in Urdaneta City and Robinson’s Pangasinan in Calasiao.