Motorcycles and the art of health maintenance

The Zermatt Summit, this year, has a different feel to it. The Matterhorn is shy and only shows its majesty early in the morning. The conference is being held at a different venue, one which allows no natural light and air – unlike the previous times where the convention room had a retractable glass ceiling that let in mountain air and light.

In its fourth year, this summit is different in that its aim is to put the human being at the centre of all debates and thoughts unlike, for instance, Davos where the making of profit takes centrestage or all those nightly discussions on television where your political position and opposition are all that matter.

Humanising Globalisation. It sounds simple and yet getting diverse sectors and mindsets onboard to discuss a common good is all but evident or simple.
One of the sessions is on health and healthcare delivery in Africa. Vinay Deviraju runs a London-based organisation called Riders that works in seven African countries. In most of that continent, primary healthcare services are non-existent and people have to walk and carry people for a full day to get to the nearest, and usually poorly equipped health centre. Getting inoculations to children is a nightmare, and so is getting blood and other samples to a city pathological laboratory.

Riders, thus, which is promoted by a group of concerned motorcycle enthusiasts wanting to make a difference, decided to buy some motorcycles and start a service in one country. They went in and started training a bunch of people, women and men, in motorcycle maintenance and drug delivery and pick-up. The key was to set up a system where delivery channels, once set up, didn’t break down. Thus, the art of motorcycle maintenance took priority.

Once trained, the riders set them routes. First, to go to every single clinic once every couple of days to pick up samples to be taken to the laboratory, and to get results back in as short a time. The turnaround time for test results was reduced from 2-3 weeks to 2-3 days, allowing healthcare workers to administer medication earlier and save lives. Thus HIV Positive pregnant mothers, for instance, can be put early on drugs – enough to save their babies from becoming positive.  But Riders is clear that they are only going to be facilitators and have worked out a method of setting up the system, training locals and having the government run and own the operation. While they put in money to buy vehicles, costs are amortised over their life and this is paid to them as a monthly cost per vehicle. Besides training the drivers in daily maintenance.

Riders has set up mechanical repair centres and schools to train people. They have also stocked essential spare parts so that the lack of one doesn’t lead to the system breaking down and lives being endangered. About 1,400 vehicles are now in operation and millions of miles have been covered – without a single breakdown! Their success has lead to many more governments, in Africa and elsewhere, requesting them to set up operations.

Indian states with bad delivery mechanisms for healthcare and with bad roads preventing speedy movement of patients to hospitals could do well in adopting the model. But to avoid the prevalent pitfall, so widespread in India, that of having lots of unusable equipment because of lack of technicians or money, the model that Riders follows is a must – of seeing that each rider can fix their vehicles, and that want of a one-rupee spare part doesn’t lead to collapse of the entire system.

The writer is a noted danseuse and a social  activist