By Nora Soriño
ILIGAN City ― This is with some apologies to the writer of a song that rhymes with this one. Because the narrative is partly based on that.
Which begins with the lines: “Where do I begin/to tell the story of how great a love can be…”
So this dreamed laboratory (lab) here in this city began in October 2020. This is according to Councilor Lamberto Macapagal, chair of the Sanggunian Panglungsod’s Committee on Health. The cost? P20 million. Plus P2 million.
This lab is located near the city hospital, we are told. The body is said to consist of some container vans. It is envisioned to make the testing fine. Testing for Covid-19. For these days, specimens for residents in this city will have to be sent to other places yet. Like Cagayan de Oro. Or Lanao Norte. Or Lanao Sur. So, this “first-class city” is just relying somewhere on the testing results? That doesn't make the testing here fine. For the results are delayed.
Thus reports are delayed too. As in not updated. Or maybe not quite correct.
There are several requirements for this molecular Covid testing lab. Of which the city hasn't been unable to comply with, up to this time when this darn pandemic is at its “fiercest” what with the prevailing Delta variant.
Among the requirements: training of personnel, checked. Exhaust adjustments, checked. Hospital waste disposal, well…License to operate, not yet. Because it relies on the compliance of those and more. This is per declaration of Macapagal.
It is not the DOH Region 10 that makes the decisions, said Macapagal; it is Manila.
And we’re wondering if the city here has made some “Council on Follow-Ups.” Or “Sub-Committee on Follow-Ups” or whatever. And he says the DOH in Manila has only so many people for its manpower. Thus the failure of the city up to this time to make said lab operational. So some people here are asking why the areas mentioned have their respective loves, I mean labs. Areas in the two Lanaos besides Cagayan de Oro. And other nearby areas.
So, some residents here too are asking that maybe, this pandemic might have run its course, and still this lab isn't there yet.
So, I suddenly remember the words of a song: “Lab is ended before it begins…” Now, wait, I think there's some wrong spelling there, somewhere… Maybe my mind is cluttered. That occurred to me as I was sitting in the office “all by myself,” as some words on a song say. And then somebody came over. It was Fely, my good friend from an adjoining dental office. After the niceties, we got to talking about some “serious” matters that affect the present world we're living in. And among the things she said was: “There’s bliss in incompetence.”
Baffled some more, I asked what did she mean by that.
“Because of the delay of Covid-19 reports here because for one thing, we have no lab. So this city is not included in the reports of ‘concerns.’ Meaning, the national government does not look at this city as some area to be concerned about. As in almost, there’s no news about Covid in this city. And didn't they say that 'no news is good news?”
I couldn’t quite get her. It seemed as if she was talking in riddles. “And you know what? With our situation, we have built-in border control.”
“What are you trying to say?” I was getting more and more befuddled.
“Our city hospital here is way ayo. So no patients outside the city come here to be treated. Unlike yesteryears when there were plenty of them outsiders. Plus no Covid lab because…” Her voice trailed off. So I finished it for her.
“Because here, the lab has ….ended before it begins,” I said those last four words to the tune of some half-remembered song of yesteryears. And we both laughed although we both knew that was no laughing matter really!
Email: norasorino2@gmail.com
