Monrovia – As part of efforts to control the infection of Coronavirus in Liberia, students in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Liberia (UL)are undertaking a milestone project of producing hand sanitizers intended to be distributed free-of- charge to a targeted population of 50,000.
The project is initiated by the faculty of the School of Pharmacy along with students and it is being implemented in the laboratory at the Medical School in Congo Town by second, third and fourth year students.
The Dean of the School of Pharmacy Dr. Ezekile F. Hallie disclosed over the weekend that when more resources are available, the initiative will be expanded to other institutions.
By the weekend, Dean Hallie revealed that 300 plus bottles of hand sanitizers had been produced and ready for use by Monday, March 23, 2020 while the school mobilizes additional resources from donors through a proposal to aid mass production to extend supply to a larger population to control Coronavirus infection.
“So I, as the Dean I mobilized the faculty members with the limited resources we have … to begin something to sanitize our workers, our students and the community in general,” he said.
He termed the initiative as a boost for the university and the School of Pharmacy, as he recalled that during the Ebola crisis, pharmacists were very limited in taking control and prevention of the disease.
But with the expertise and improvement they got in education, he said the School of Pharmacy decided to take this initiative and let the public know that pharmacists here have the ability to control infection and they know about medicine.
He indicated that this initiative is not intended only for the fight against coronavirus, but it is the students’ regular practical that they have to go through in laboratories at the School of Pharmacy. But he concluded that because coronavirus is very immediate, they want to attack it right away.
