OUT OF THE WRECKAGE, A THOUSAND RESEARCH HUBS AND LABS SHOULD BLOOM
“People were help less as children unknown, which overturned all established habits in the way and left devastation behind it. But the doctor saw life unvarnished .”
W– Dr. Zhivago
HY are Filipinos gripped by a feeling of inadequacy that our leaders and our institutions are not really that prepared for fighting the coronavirus disease 2019 ( Covid- 19)? The first reason is the hard reality on the ground. Doctors, nurses and other medical personnel manning the frontlines sorely lack personal protective equipment. Hospital beds have run out. The health system is strained. We need not even go into the ventilator part, the critical life-saving device in the fight against the virus that only a few hospitals have.
Test kits, the most basic of needs, are for the “home service” of the political and economic elite. The chance of a senior citizen with a weak immune system getting tested is one in a million. The chance of an urban slum dweller to get a test is zero.
But the most jarring part is the utter lack of gravitas of the state apparatchiks giving us regular briefings on the state of the Covid-19. The Health secretary can push the nervous to commit suicide with such talk as “If you have the symptoms, manage it.” Really? How? The Orwellian tone of Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd heightens the already heightened sense of despair. Still, somewhat better though than his boss, President Rodrigo Duterte, who did not have the patience to read from a prepared text.
His subcabinet Covid-19 briefer is as bland and unsympathetic as Mr. Duque.
With the medical and physical infrastructure to cope up with the virus absent, the everyman in the lockdown period is naturally stricken with a sense of dread and inadequacy.
The underwhelming response to the virus, hopefully, will push the polity into preparedness for the next national emergency. Albert Camus warned of such recurrence in Hard and dear lessons, hopefully, have been learned.
How is this not even rocket science. Just empower the researchers and scientists and let a thousand labs bloom.
The unknown, the devastating unknown, should be fought with these three undertakings: research and development, research and development, research and development.
Don’t ever, ever listen to the billionaire-politician who scoffs at R&D funding.
With the current pandemic as reference point, what can an energized and inspired R&D do?
First, it can help speed up the development of new drugs and vaccines for viruses.
Second, it can help speed up the development and production of protective gear for doctors and nurses at the frontline, from masks to gowns to scrub suits. Then, the technology to build temporary hospitals for crisis medical situations. Plus, isolation facilities for possible carriers of the virus.
Third, it can help speed up the production of critical requirements such as testing kits and ventilators.
Even the strategies that will pave the way for the seamless availability and provision of food and medicine and basic supplies to areas under lockdown can be done by the science of supply chains, distribution points and speedy deliveries.
During medical emergencies, it should be doctors and men of science who should craft the policies and strategies and define the narratives. The military men and enforcers of rules should be mere adjuncts to the men of science and the medical professionals.
Across all fields and undertakings, investments on R&D are the most cost- efficient. The Philippine budget process has failed to march in lockstep with this reality in this knowledge century. Historically, R& D investments have yet to meet 1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which is the benchmark of most developed economies. For a long time, it was stuck at 0.2 percent of the GDP.
The 2020 budget allocated 0.39 percent of the GDP to R&D, still way below the 1-percent international practice.
The general unpreparedness that we see in the handling of the current crisis and the general feeling of inadequacy, are rooted largely on the historical neglect of science, data, technology and the building of a knowledge infrastructure that can cope up with outbreaks and pandemics.
The mantra of the bureaucracy should shift from Build, Build, Build, to Research, Research, Research.