Question

In these weird times, we are now finding that our healthcare systems, hospitals and medical equipment manufacturers are designed for efficiency, but not to withstand sudden changes in demand levels (such as in the event of a pandemic).

Do you favor implementation of lean systems, increasing efficiency and cutting costs at hospitals and pharmaceutical companies? Consider both business and ethical perspectives to give your answer.

Answer 1

It is true that medical systems are not designed to cope up with sudden global rise in the demand for care facilities, equipments, medicines and resources, because of the fact that with advancement and research in medical sciences and care, we became too complacent and laid back that no such pandemic can ever play havoc with system. Record of past hundred years or so testified it, and many pharma and healthcare companies and health equipment makers made efficiency and lean implementation, a part of their operations. But now, when we see these systems exposed, there must be enough room to deal with such situations. Still, in many ways, the lean practices can help the pharma and equipment companies to be more responsive to changing demands and can be of use in such times when sudden demand needs to be satisfied. The agile systems are need of the hour so as not only to cut the cost, but also to be capable of dealing with emergencies and be prepared for any eventuality, and produce products on mass scale on short notice. As regards healthcare service organisations, cost cutting should be avoided, particularly when it comes to surplus capacity of life saving devices, inventory of medicines and availability of trained resources. In normal times, the surplus capacity can be utilised to strengthen the healthcare system, the capacity of which, is always below the demand, and be utilised to serve the people more efficiently in far flung areas or help outreach of facilities with greater coverage. This capacity can be of immense use under difficult situation such as that we are passing through at this moment.