FEATURE
For years, many residents of Tanudan had to travel outside the municipality for laboratory tests, spending additional time, money, and effort just to access essential diagnostic services. Today, that burden is easing with the opening of the municipality’s first Department of Health (DOH)-accredited clinical laboratory.
Located at the Rural Health Unit (RHU), the newly established facility now provides iTanudans with fast, accurate, and accessible diagnostic testing closer to home.
The clinical laboratory officially began operations after obtaining its license from the Department of Health and was blessed on June 4, 2026. The opening was spearheaded by the Municipal Health Office under the leadership of Dr. Guia Grace Dagadag and attended by officials of the Tanudan Municipal Local Government Unit led by Mayor Jaedicke Rhoss Dagadag.
More than just a new facility, the laboratory represents a significant step toward improving healthcare delivery in one of Kalinga’s upland municipalities.
According to Medical Technologist Feth Bagyon Bangngagan, the laboratory offers a wide range of diagnostic services that were previously difficult for many residents to access without leaving the municipality.
These include hematology services such as Complete Blood Count (CBC), hemoglobin and hematocrit determination, platelet count, WBC differential count, and blood typing. The laboratory also performs clinical microscopy procedures, including urinalysis, fecalysis, and pregnancy testing.
In addition, the facility provides rapid tests for Hepatitis B screening (HBsAg), HIV, dengue NS1 antigen, syphilis, and malaria. Point-of-care laboratory services are also available, including blood sugar, blood uric acid, and blood cholesterol testing. Other diagnostic services include malaria microscopy and direct sputum smear microscopy.
For Bangngagan, the laboratory's impact extends far beyond the services it offers.
She explained that having a clinical laboratory within the municipality will help make healthcare more timely and efficient by allowing residents to obtain diagnostic results sooner, enabling earlier detection and treatment of illnesses.
The facility is also expected to lessen the financial burden on families who previously had to travel to other towns or cities for laboratory procedures.
“It will reduce the burden of travel and healthcare expenses among residents, facilitate early disease detection and treatment, strengthen public health programs, and improve overall health outcomes for the people of the municipality. The establishment of such also increases community trust in local health services and the LGU as a whole,” Bangngagan said.
Beyond convenience, the laboratory strengthens the municipality’s capacity to respond to public health concerns and support disease prevention efforts. It also reflects the local government's continuing commitment to bringing essential healthcare services closer to its constituents.
For the people of Tanudan, the opening of the RHU clinical laboratory is more than the inauguration of a healthcare facility—it is a milestone that brings quality healthcare within reach and a reminder that better health outcomes often begin with access to timely and reliable diagnosis.
The clinical laboratory is open from Monday to Friday.
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