Healthcare Is First A Responsibility… Amlesh Ranjan
We look for a sense of purpose and meaning, in all that we do in all spheres of our life. Today, on World Health Day, as a Pharma professional, I feel lucky to be part of Healthcare domain which has a sense of purpose and meaning built into it. Be it Pharma, Biotech, Medtech, Provider or, Payer, anyone associated in any function, role or, form, is in a position to contribute towards the Health and Well Being of our fellow citizens of the world and that by itself is so very rewarding.
We live in a World, where more than a billion people lack access to quality healthcare and almost 50 million die each year due to non-communicable and communicable diseases. Global Child mortality numbers are still around 5 million. We do not have answers to the diseases, we know little about and also to some, even though, we know a lot about.
While HIV and Cancer continue to be the biggest health challenges, Antibiotic/Antimicrobial Resistance is seemingly moving towards becoming the biggest threat to global health. The kind of stressful lifestyle that we have brought upon ourselves in pursuit of success and in the name of progress, our mental health and well-being is increasingly becoming a question mark.
Above means that, all of us, who are part of healthcare ecosystem, has a lot to do. WHO mentions — “The threat ahead is so big that if it is not taken care of, it can wipe out substantial part of our progresses and gains on all other fronts. The task ahead is so enormous that the international agencies and the governments cannot handle on their own and hence, the onus is on all stakeholders in the system.”
If we look at World Health Organization (WHO) definition, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity", then we have a long, long way to go. This indeed is a worthy goal to pursue but it is so big that all operators and stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem must contribute.
While, in healthcare, the need is enormous and the gap is huge which means there is immense opportunity for all the companies and professionals who operate in healthcare or, life sciences, but we all must remember, “Healthcare is first a Responsibility and then only, an Opportunity”.
The onus is on us to take people from dis-ease stage to at-ease stage. We need to look at our domain first from the lenses of responsibility because what is good for society can be good for business if the intent and efforts are in that direction.
There are so many ways, by which, above can be ingrained in in our business philosophy and operations. Public-Private partnership for tackling larger healthcare issues and challenges can have far reaching impact. Private sector efficiencies, once deployed on Public sector resources, can help achieve healthcare goals much faster.
We often hear about high research cost on finding better solutions for the diseases which impact a large population or, the ones which has low prevalence but are deadlier in outcomes. The talk veers around the circle of investment-risk-viability-profitability-sustainability. Can we not solve this by creating Academics-Institution-Industry partnership in all parts of the world focusing on local as well as global solutions to healthcare needs and challenges. This will create a shared investment-risk-rewards system which will not just be sustainable but also likely to produce affordable solutions whose patents are co-owned with nations.
And why only research, all functions in life sciences domain can approach their respective jobs towards making a difference to healthcare in whatever way they can. The leadership at all levels, of course, are in a better position to not just take decisions in that direction but also inspire a culture of ‘Healthcare Responsibility’ across their teams and the organization.
Even the frontline sales person can step out every morning not just to do their calls or, achieve their target numbers but make a difference through their knowledge and information sharing or, through their academic, awareness or, education activities to whatever therapy area product they are assigned, to promote and sell. Does it sound utopian, well it is not, because I have seen it happening through the three decades of my experience.
Patient Centricity, the most talked, least understood and poorly implemented strategy in our domain, if holistically approached and sincerely adopted, can truly transform us towards a culture of ‘Healthcare Responsibility’.
If every person in the life sciences organization at every level, is motivated, trained and equipped towards understanding, what means value to the Patient and the Healthcare Providers and then strives towards co-creating, creating or, contributing the same, we can travel a huge distance and with good speed. Is this ‘Value’ paradigm implementable, well, some are already doing it.
The World Health Day theme of Universal Health Coverage: Everyone, Everywhere- providing good medical care despite economic hardships and accessibility, can be realized only with all stakeholders in healthcare ecosystem pitching in with their due contributions and joining hands together for a greater goal.
On World Health Day today, let us take a pledge, we, who have got this great chance to be in Life Sciences domain, to always consider, “Healthcare, first as a Responsibility and, only then an Opportunity”.
@AmleshR
#healthcare #pharma #biopharma #medtech #worldhealthday2019 #who
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal.
