The pandemic is back, with a vengeance this time round. The second wave seems to be worse than the first. And this wave has bitten us just when a certain degree of lethargy on maintaining Covid controls had come into our lives. Covid-ennui had stepped in as a mindset, after a long year of strict controls. The masks were being worn with a lesser degree of paranoia, social distancing became a myth and hands were being washed with that much less periodicity and passion.
Nonetheless, the pandemic is in our home now, if not at our doorstep. Bengaluru, the capital city of new cases, is topping 700 positives an hour, and medical infrastructure to deal with the pandemic is creaking on rickety legs. Pune and Delhi continue to struggle, as do others. The big city disease is no longer one restricted to just these places. As people leave the city and make their way into the hinterland of India, Covid-19 is slated to become a village-to-village reality. And that is a big worry.
The finger-pointing has begun, and politics is being played with merriment. Overall, there is a feeling of inadequacy all around. There is a shortage of oxygen, Remdesivir and beds in hospitals for the critically ill; there is even a shortage of appreciation of the humongous work being done.
The thing to remember is that this is an “Act of God” event (if not an “Act of Devil” calamity). Something so sudden and so massive that there is just no infrastructure in place to cope with the immensity of it all. China, with its large capacity, faced it right at the beginning; literally every country has faced this problem to date, never mind whether it was a supra-developed, developed, developing
or submerged nation in economic terms.
The problem statement is clear. An entire nation has the potential of falling prey to the virus in some form or the other. This is a Pareto issue again. While 80% will go through it seamlessly, the balance 20% will suffer through it, and a subset of that percentage will ring the mortality bell. The numbers that represent this 20% is the huge issue for a big country like India. Managing the pressing needs of this 20%, oftentimes concentrated in our densely populated urban agglomerations, is the key problem at hand. How does one solve this?
The solution is really one that cannot be addressed by governments and their existing governance machinery in place alone. The problem is just too big. It’s time for the private sector, and every able-bodied citizen in fact, to step in.
The private sector, in sheer number terms, is represented in India by 1.26 million large and medium-sized corporate enterprises. Add to it 61 million MSMEs. Add to it 5,100 higher education institutions of every kind. Add 8,500 clubs and entertainment hubs with facilities, 12,000 hotels of the five-star to three-star kind, 3,810 shopping malls with space. Keep adding.
Each of these private sector establishments, without being requisitioned by the government, must put a step forward in the space of pandemic management. We already have excellent examples from the biggies. Industrial oxygen has been diverted for medical use. RIL has provided 700 MT of oxygen per day, JSW Steel has committed 400 MT and SAIL, Vedanta, Tata and IOC are others who have contributed valuably. Time to stretch these numbers further.
India Inc sits atop a pyramid of consumers. In normal times, these consumers contribute to the prosperity of the corporate at the top. There is a clear commercial equation at play. If people are happy, India Inc is happy. If people are stressed and sad, India Inc is stressed and sad. We live in the latter times.The private sector has a valuable role to play in managing the pandemic. The current task of pandemic management is just too large to be left to governments alone. The taxes we pay so diligently should not be the only support to this massive exercise.
The medical calamity is so large that it’s time for every private sector organisation to revisit its purpose. Every organisation is purpose-driven. Most mission, vision and purpose statements are enshrined in gold within organisations. The pandemic nudge is here. Time now to repurpose this purpose. Time to repurpose raw materials, components and machinery, labour, equipment and the production process, and even re-engineer the organisation for public purpose.In times of war, the purpose of all private enterprise is to help fight it. This pandemic is a war like never before. Time to repurpose without being asked. By volition.
An example is a small piece of work I am involved in. I am working with two business schools to set up a 400-bed intermediary Covid care facility on their campuses. This is not for the student community alone, but for those that live around the campus. This is management in action. Students learn valuable lessons in planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting. And at the end of it all, there is a spanking new 400-bed facility for Covid care management. The enthusiasm of the eight student cohorts behind this exercise is infectious.
There is an important need to repurpose as we battle the second wave and prepare for the third. There is an immediate need for a “second place” to be set up. The first place is the home and the third place is the hospital. The second place is that in-between area that can take care of the ones who are not seriously ill. It is an important interventionist middle-layer that will help cure a lot more people, who will hopefully never have to go to the third place, ever.
Time for all businesses to pivot. Repurpose and pivot.
(harishbijoor@hotmail.com)