Maynilad, DLSMC launch COVID-19 testing facility

MAYNILAD WATER SERVICES, Inc. and the Delos Santos Medical Center (DLSMC) have formally inaugurated a new P15-million testing and laboratory center in Quezon City to help curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country.

In a statement on Monday, Maynilad said once the new COVID-19 testing and laboratory facility is opened, it can conduct and process 200 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests daily.

The west zone water concessionaire said that a RT-PCR test is the recommended testing procedure by the World Health Organization.

The testing facility, located inside the medical center’s compound, is a collaboration between Maynilad and DLSMC that aims to boost the country’s testing capacity.

Maynilad and DLSMC are companies under Metro Pacific Investments Corp., with DLSMC being one of the 16 hospitals under Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings, Inc.

Metro Pacific Investments, which has majority stake in Maynilad, is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave