JICA gives P46-million lab equipment aid to RITM

MANILA, Philippines — The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided P46 million worth of laboratory equipment to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine to assist the Philippines in its COVID-19 recovery efforts.

In a release Monday, JICA, the international development arm of the Japanese government, said it provided pharmaceutical refrigerator, automated immunoassay analyzer, deep freezer and other equipment to RITM. The turnover ceremony was held on March 24.

The assistance aims to “further strengthen RITM’s capacity in detection, treatment and management of COVID-19 cases, and to respond to the need of having sufficient number of medical equipment.”

“This assistance complements our other support to Philippine COVID-19 recovery efforts including the grant finance and technical cooperation for cold chain storage and logistics as well as rapid antigen test kits to be distributed to the Department of Health in the coming weeks, said Sakamoto Takema, JICA Philippines chief representative.

JICA earlier extended P22 billion COVID-19 Crisis Response Emergency Support Loan and another P22 billion JICA Post-Disaster Standby Loan Phase 2. It also provided equipment for COVID-19 testing, diagnosis and treatment to San Lazaro Hospital at the onset of the pandemic.

The Philippines has reported over 3.67 million COVID-19 cases since the health crisis began, with 59,015 deaths. — Gaea Katreena Cabico