DOH investigates false positive results of PRC Subic lab

MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) are investigating the false positive testing results for Covid-19 conducted by a laboratory of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) in Subic.

During the hearing of the House Good Government and Public Accountability on Monday, Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta said the incident involved 44 false positive Covid-19 results, wherein the hospital personnel who initially tested positive for the virus yielded negative results three days after the second test in a different laboratory.

“They are all vaccinated staff of the hospitals and because they doubt the result that they become positive, they have themselves retested on September 6. Nangyari po ito September 3 eh (This happened on September 3),” Marcoleta said.

Marcoleta said around 49 personnel tested positive based on the test by the PRC laboratory.

“After three days, they have themselves retested in another facility and 44 out of 49 [are] false positive,” Marcoleta said.

DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said they received the complaint regarding the matter, which is already being investigated by the Lab Network, headed by Assistant Secretary Nestor Santiago.

Duque said the RITM is already doing an evaluation or assessment on the incident, assuring that the health department would be imposing corrective measures to ensure the accuracy of the testing service and that such incident will not occur again.