Makati to offer cheaper swab tests to residents, firms

MAKATI, Philippines — The Makati City government has pledged to offer cheaper COVID-19 swab tests for its residents and businesses.

In a statement on Friday, Mayor Abby Binay announced that individual reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction or swab tests offered by the city government to residents and city-based businesses would cost P2,950, compared to P4,500 to P8,500 offered by hospitals and RT-PCR laboratories.

Residents and employees of city-based companies seeking to undergo COVID-19 could sign up at www.safemakati.com.

The city government has “looked for ways to bring COVID-19 tests to our employees and residents, especially the most vulnerable sectors of society,” Binay said.

The city government remained consistent in the use of swab tests, which it considered the “gold standard” in COVID-19 testing for being accurate in its results, she added.

The city government started mass testing of city hall employees, medical health workers and other frontliners in April.

It also introduced in September the concept of pooled mass testing, wherein a group of 10 people would undergo swab tests, which would be processed by an RT-PCR machine at the same time.

Around 6,000 public transport drivers and market vendors undertook pooled testing organized by Project ARK.

Binay also called on companies with a huge workforce to avail of the city government’s pooled testing program, which costs P1,000 a person.

However, some residents appealed for the inclusion of the cost of COVID-19 tests in the Yellow Card program, the city government’s medicine and hospitalization subsidy program.