MANILA— Malacañang on Tuesday released a list of hospitals that offer real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) COVID-19 tests for a lower cost.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said RT-PCR tests, which are regarded as the "gold standard" in COVID-19 detection, are offered in the following hospitals for P1,750 to P2,000:

1. Philippine Children's Medical Center- Quezon City
2. Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital- Caloocan City
3. Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital- San Fernando, Pampanga
4. Perpetual Help Medical Center- Las Piñas City
5. National Kidney and Transplant Institute- Quezon City
6. Lung Center of the Philippines- Quezon City
7. Western Visayas Medical Center- Iloilo
8. Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center- Cebu City
9. University of Cebu Medical Center- Mandaue City
10. Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center- Tacloban, Leyte
11. Baguio General Hospital- Baguio City
12. Zamboanga City Medical Center- Zamboanga City
13. St. Paul's Hospital- Tacloban, Leyte
14. Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital- Silay City, Negros Occidental
15. Cebu Molecular Laboratory- Cebu City

COVID-19 testing in many private hospitals cost between 4,000 to even over P10,000 for express results.

Roque said the government hopes to bring down the price of RT-PCR testing to around P500 once it starts pooled testing.

With pooled testing, samples from a group of individuals would be tested as one. If the results come back negative, everyone in the group is cleared of COVID-19. But if the results return positive, each individual will be tested separately for the virus.

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