News

Private Hospitals, Laboratories Cited for Offering Affordable TB Testing

Published

1 year ago

December 11, 2022

MCN

Representatives of new member hospitals and laboratories are recognized at an awarding ceremony of the Philippine Private Sector Diagnostic Consortium. The Consortium members are able to procure diagnostic machines and commodities at a discounted price as part of a pooled procurement system supported by the US Agency for International Development. ©2022/USAID/Louie Zambales)

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has recognized top-performing hospitals and laboratories with the highest number of clients tested for TB using the WHO-recommend GeneXpert machine. Among these were De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute, Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center, and Hi-Precision Diagnostics.

The reduced cost of diagnostic testing for Tuberculosis (TB) is now made possible through a consortium of 26 private hospitals and laboratories using a pooled procurement system. This was created with the help of USAID.

Called the Philippine Private Sector Diagnostics Consortium or “The Consortium”, the alliance offers TB testing via the WHO-recommended GeneXpert machine at a discounted price of not more than PhP 2,500, 70% cheaper than other facilities. With members coming from Luzon and Visayas, The Consortium has tested over 14,000 clients for TB in the last two years. These tests found over 2,200 (22%) cases of TB.

“The Consortium has been instrumental in finding more TB cases among Filipinos who prefer to get services from private hospitals and laboratories,” said Michelle Lang-Alli, Director of USAID’s Office of Health. The Philippine Coalition Against Tuberculosis (PhilCAT) manages The Consortium with the support of international non-government organizations (NGOs) FHI 360 and Interactive Research Development (IRD).

PhilCAT President Dr. Manuel Po enjoined other facilities to become members of The Consortium as other diagnostic testing for COVID-19 and HIV and AIDS will be introduced soon for pooled procurement. Dr. Po welcomed new members such as Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital, Cebu Velez General Hospital, Delos Santos Medical Center, Detoxiare Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory Inc., and Manila Central University – Filemon D. Tanchoco Medical Foundation, Inc. New governing council members were also sworn into The Consortium.

The Consortium’s campaign to reduce the cost of diagnostic TB testing was shortlisted in the 2022 Marketing Excellence Awards under the Non-Profit Marketing Campaign category.