The city government has hired new medical technologists to boost its manpower and testing capability to better respond to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, the City Information Office announced on Wednesday.

In a statement, Dr. Josephine Villafuerte of the City Health Office (CHO) said the medical technologists were trained by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) before their deployment to the newly-commissioned testing laboratory for Covid-19 at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport here.

“There are six med techs who finished their training last week. They will now be prepared for their proficiency test,” Villafuerte said.

She said the new “medtechs” can start processing samples at the Davao airport laboratory when they pass the proficiency test.

The testing laboratory at the Davao airport was donated by pharmaceutical company Unilab on September 15. It can examine 92 specimens per run.

Villafuerte said the personnel deployed at the Covid-19 laboratories are required to undergo training on biosafety, biosecurity, and processing through the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machine.

“There are more than 10 medical technologists on deck for training,” she added.

Villafuerte said 11 medical technologists are undergoing training in preparation for the soon to open Los Amigos Covid testing laboratory. (PNA)