Optimal Allocation of COVID-19 Test Kits Among Accredited Testing Centers in the Philippines

Testing is crucial for early detection, isolation, and treatment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-infected individuals. However, in resource-constrained countries such as the Philippines, test kits have limited availability. As of 11 April 2020, there are 11 testing centers in the country that have been accredited by the Department of Health (DOH) to conduct testing. In this paper, we use nonlinear programming (NLP) to determine the optimal percentage allocation of COVID-19 test kits among accredited testing centers in the Philippines that gives an equitable chance to all infected individuals to be tested. Heterogeneity in testing accessibility, population density of municipalities, and the capacity of testing facilities are included in the model. Our results show that the range of optimal allocation per testing center are as follows: Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (4.17–6.34%), San Lazaro Hospital (14.65–24.03%), University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health (16.25–44.80%), Lung Center of the Philippines (15.8–26.40%), Baguio General Hospital Medical Center (0.58–0.76%), The Medical City, Pasig City (5.96–25.51%), St. Luke’s Medical Center, Quezon City (1.09–6.70%), Bicol Public Health Laboratory (0.06–0.08%), Western Visayas Medical Center (0.71–4.52%), Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (1.02–2.61%), and Southern Philippines Medical Center (≈ 0.01%). Our results can serve as a guide to the authorities in distributing the COVID-19 test kits. These can also be used for proposing additional testing centers and utilizing the available test kits properly and equitably, which helps in “flattening” the epidemic curve.