Healthcare is First a Responsibility…

 

We look for a sense of purpose and meaning, in all that we do. As a Pharma professional, I feel lucky to be part of the 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 or role, is in a position to contribute towards the Health and Wellbeing of our fellow citizens and that by itself is 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. 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 the pursuit of success and progress, affects our mental health and wellbeing.

The threat ahead is so large that if it is not taken care of, it can wipe out substantial part of our progresses and gains on all 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 the 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 cost of research to find better solutions for diseases, which impact a large population or, the ones which has low prevalence but have a deadlier outcome. The talk veers around the circle of investment-risk-viability-profitability-sustainability. Can we not solve this problem by creating Academia-Institution-Industry partnerships globally, by focusing on local and global healthcare 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 by nations.

And why only research, all functions in life sciences domain can approach their respective jobs to make a difference to healthcare in whatever way they can. The leadership at all levels, of course, is in a better position to not just take decisions in that direction but also inspire a culture of ‘Healthcare Responsibility’. Even the frontline sales people can step out every morning not just to do their calls or achieve their sales targets but make a difference through their knowledge and information sharing in whatever therapy area they are assigned to promote and sell. Does it sound utopian? Well, it  is not, because I have seen it happening in three decades of my experience.

Patient Centricity, the most talked, least understood and poorly implemented strategy in our domain, if holistically approached and sincerely implemented, can truly transform and lead us towards a culture of ‘Healthcare is a Responsibility’. If every person in the life sciences organization at every level, is motivated, trained and equipped to understand, what is of value to the Patient and then strive towards co-creating, creating or contributing, we can travel a huge distance. 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 cause.

Let us take a pledge, we, who have got this great opportunity to be in Life Sciences domain, to always consider, “Healthcare, first as a Responsibility and, only then an Opportunity”.

By – Amlesh Ranjan

Disclaimer by author: Views expressed are personal and do not necessarily represent that of the organization that I work for.

 

Note: This article first appeared in The Medium and is edited and published in MedicinMan at the author’s request.

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