“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.”
Richard II by William Shakespeare
As the healthcare sector races towards the longevity escape velocity where people add more than a year of life expectancy for every year they live, covid-19 has brought into stark relief the widening inequality within and between countries.
As my colleague Kaloyan Andonov, in the main feature for the Global Healthcare Council quarterly, writes: “The health sector has been going through various shifts in the context of an increasingly digitised, mobile and data-driven world. This trend predates the covid-19 pandemic and last year’s lockdowns but it was undoubtedly accelerated by them. The life sciences sector has also given the world hope – by developing effective vaccines – that the world will be back to normal soon.”
The impact of covid-19 along with other potentially fatal diseases, viruses and illnesses are often greater for people and societies struggling with more than one issue or comorbidity.
The question is whether technology can be harnessed with enlightened self-interest for serving the greater good through helping all parts of the world.
As Will Morris at Cleveland Clinic, in discussion on its centenary with Chris Coburn, the founding executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations and chief innovation officer at Mass General Brigham, said: “It takes a pandemic to realise that even though, perhaps in one world, Cleveland Clinic and Mass General and others can compete against [each other], at the end of the day, we all serve one mission which is to serve patients.”
Looking at the power and influence of the Global Healthcare Council and the wider group of corporate venturers in the sector coming together, there is certainly grounds for optimism.
