By early 2020, COVID-19 had first reached our shores through a handful of tourists from Wuhan, but there was still very little local spread. In fact, there was more spread in the small island state of Singapore. So, my husband, Joseph, the Philippine ambassador to Singapore at the time, and I spent the end of each day checking the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) website for the latest COVID-19 statistics.
In my advertising position, I am guilty of the suitability and well-being of my circle of Filinvest relatives and the monetary suitability of our companies. I evaluated the scenario and learned that this fight is another if public suitability is in jeopardy. I no longer oppose our competition, but I oppose a new invisible enemy. I spent many sleepless nights researching COVID-19. I felt I had to be as informed as I could about the enemy.
I asked a knowledge science company, Thinking Machines, if they had a team ready and got to work. It took the team about a month to set up the Department of Health’s (DOH) first fundamental COVID-19 dashboard. Beverly Ho of the Department of Health was very open to new concepts and advice, and was the number one resource person. I was told that creating a knowledge store and control panel wasn’t incredibly easy while managing a decentralized and insufficient knowledge infrastructure, especially with such a short advantage. time.
Gathering knowledge about COVID-19 instances for new case outbreaks, barangay “hotspot” clusters, and death trends was just the tip of the iceberg. In the control of the pandemic, knowledge about the availability of verification kits and their similar materials (swabs, reagents, etc. ), hospital beds and quarantine centers and their occupancy rates had to be replenished. A decentralized public physical health system, without a central enterprise for disease and prevention, was at the center of the challenge. Infrastructure involving public and private hospitals and joint local governments (LMUs) will require much more investment for sustainability.
In the process, it has been a privilege for me to work with the T3 team led by Vince Dizon. I believe that this fight against COVID-19 is the maximum success of the public-private effort of any government, born of love for the country. . A big component of T3’s role was to coordinate all other stakeholders, DOH, Congress, LGU, etc. , to agree on what needed to be done, to make applicable knowledge a basis for decision-making so that mandatory resources and labor can be provided and policies and processes can be aligned.
In fact, I am saddened by those who have suffered loss and pain because of this terrible disease. My wonderful hope is that the classes learned and the knowledge infrastructure developed in this COVID-19 pandemic will be further enhanced so that we are in a position to combat the next pandemic, targeting other people and diseases, with mandatory data infrastructure as a critical element. tool and not as a disadvantage.
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Business Matters is part of the Makati Business Club ([email protected]).
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