Monrovia-To boost its program across Liberia, Rider for health Liberia has bought 24 motorcycles to transport specimen from health facilities to the national laboratory.
Presenting the bikes Rider for health Liberia Country Director Joseph Mehdeh said, the bikes will be dispatch and deploy across the fifteen counties to enhance specimen transportation.
“Rider for health Liberia Imported additional new A G -200 Yamaha motorcycles for dispatch and deployment across Liberia fifteen counties to enhance specimen transportation,” Mehdeh said.
Rider Country Director said in close collaboration with the national public health institute of Liberia/ MOH funded by the United States center for disease control and prevention,”
Mehdeh said, rider is moving global health forward adding its sample transport project is a life-saving one.
“Rider for health is about to tell the Liberia, that we are here to stay as a health transporting partner, our sample transport project is a life-saving one, it has been here for four years,” Mehdeh said.
Mehdeh said, rider for health with the presence help to in the fight against Ebola.
Mehdeh said the twenty-four motorcycles are customize in the way to navigate remote places.
“Today in our sample transport project we use customized motorcycles you don’t see outside there, and the motorcycles are customize in a way to navigate the rough terrain,” Mehdeh said.
“Today this press conference is to showcase the contribution rider for health is making to our health system, couple of month ago we heard about outbreak of meningitis in Sinoe in January of last year, rider remain the principle means of transporting those specimen to our lab,” Mehdeh said.
Rider Country Director said since the inception of rider during the heat of the Ebola they transported up to eight thousand bio-specimens on a monthly basis.
“We have train couriers who on a daily basis transporting specimen across the country from health centers to the lab, we continue to partner with the ministry of health and the national public health institute,” Mehdeh said.
It can be recalled that in 2015 Riders for Health responded to the Ebola outbreak. Riders Liberia has implemented a national fleet management and maintenance of 534 vehicular units to cover all the 15 Counties of Liberia.
These are run and managed by 404 Liberian Nationals mostly drawn from MoH and GSA under supervision from Riders International replication team. Other than Fleet Management Riders for Health Liberia runs a Sample transport management project with a staff component of 88 in partnership with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) transporting biological specimens from 15 Counties across Liberia. Riders Liberia has also built and equipped (with international standard tools from Snap-on) six maintenance hubs across the country.