Dan Gertler, Honorary Consul in Israel for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, recently contacted Magen David Adom, seeking advice and assistance in establishing in the Congo the same drive-thru testing facilities for the coronavirus which have been operating for a month now in Israel.
MDA accepted the challenge and built a dedicated software for managing a drive-thru facility in the Congo. In addition, MDA members have prepared a training program incorporating videos and written procedures, which they passed on to medical professionals who will operate the facility in Africa.
“During the long period in which we operated the many drive-thru sampling facilities, the technology we used has proven itself, alongside the safety practices we developed to manage the contact between potentially infected patients and the team,” said MDA Chief of Information Officer Ido Rosenblat, who said his organization was ready to help the Congo team as soon as they received their request.
Congo’s Minister of Health Dr. Eteni Longondo and Director General Sylvain Yuma Ramazani visited the “Drive and Test” facility that opened in their country in late May and expressed their gratitude to MDA.
MDA Director General Eli Bin said in a statement: “The medical capabilities and technologies of Magen David Adom, along with the methods we are developing, are among the most advanced in the world. We have gained an extensive experience the fight against the coronavirus, obtaining thousands of samples a day, efficiently and safely. Now we are happy to share our knowledge with other medical entities around the world, for the sake of saving human lives.”