According to Dr. Jaime Almora, president of the Philippine Hospitals Association, the process could help decongest laboratories and hospitals.
[Translation: I suggested to the DOH to teach people how to self swab so when the rapid tests become available, when it has a high sensitivity rate, it can be used as a surveillance tool. But the problem is there is still no license.]According to Almora, the DOH needs to train people on the anatomy of the nose and the throat, the location of specimens needed for the RT-PCR test.
[Translation: It's like a pregnancy test, for anything they want to know about their status -- they can administer the self swab and find out if they are positive or negative to avoid infecting others.]In his letter to the DOH dated March 22, 2021, Almora cited the United States and South Korea, which have approved at-home testing.