Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the largest business-led nongovernmental organization, has mobilized over P300 million worth of resources to support community-based new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing centers and provide protective gear for the country’s medical front-liners.
“We are looking at our current projects to see how we can shift our work to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of quarantine on various sectors. In addition, we are also finding new connections with partners and organizations to work together and find solutions to deal with the current crisis and hopefully, allow us to adapt to the new normal,” PBSP executive director Reynaldo Antonio Laguda said in a statement.
PBSP, together with The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Bayanihan Musikahan campaign, allocated the funds to help increase the country’s testing capacity, provide personal protective equipment, and support community-based test centers.
Through its Advancing Client-centered Care and Expanding Sustainable Services for TB (Access TB) project, PBSP secured 160,000 Xpert Xpress cartridges intended for the detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Xpert Xpress is “one of the most accurate” polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based tests and is “most likely to yield faster results compared to other available kits,” the group said.
These tests will run on GeneXpert machines deployed in 16 Department of Health-supervised TB culture centers and labs and three private labs supported by Access TB project. These 19 biosafety lab 2-certified labs are licensed to perform COVID-19 testing.
Access TB also bought 21 units of Bio-Rad CFX96, a real-time PCR instrument described by PSBP as a “powerful, precise and flexible” detection system for COVID-19. This project also procured 5,252 pieces of head cover, 228 cases of N95 masks, 500 boxes of shoe cover, and 64 cases of surgical masks.
To date, PBSP has turned over 22,750 surgical masks, 28,000 gloves, 10,500 KN95 masks, 3,360 goggles, 3,000 medical caps, 3,000 shoe covers, 1,000 disposable gowns, 400 face shields and 136 gallons of alcohol to nine hospitals in Metro Manila. INQ