{"id":17723,"date":"2022-09-29T11:00:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/?p=17723"},"modified":"2025-12-01T13:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T19:29:10","slug":"the-pandemic-has-opened-the-doors-to-new-learning-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/ghi-analysis\/the-pandemic-has-opened-the-doors-to-new-learning-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pandemic Has Opened the Doors to New Learning Opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Mauricio<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n


Mauricio Ortiz
<\/strong>President
Boston Scientific Latin America<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What impact\ndid the pandemic have on the health sector? <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic has heavily impacted all\nindustries, and has generated enormous structural changes and much mobility,\nparticularly in our sector, where primary care has demonstrated a clear need\nfor more solid systems to promote and protect the health of all patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I think the main issue we\nhave in Latin America is access, both to medical devices and to health in\ngeneral. It\u2019s a major problem that has existed for a long time, before the\npandemic even began. For the last two or three years, we haven\u2019t focused on\naccess, and COVID-19 has just made it clear that the procedures we have in\nLatin America are not comparable to the level and quality of those in the rest\nof the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This information is supported by\nconcrete data: the World Bank\u2019s 2021 reports show that 14.5% of Latin America\u2019s\npopulation has to allocate 10% of the family budget to health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are living through a time of constant changes, and\nCOVID-19 sped up those changes. What did the industry learn during the\npandemic? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the biggest lesson we learned,\nas an industry and as humans, was the capacity for people to work together. For\nexample, in our sector, we have released the plans so that everyone has the\npossibility of building a mechanical respirator in their home; vaccines have\nbeen shipped around the world; telemedicine came to be part of daily life; we\nhave all worked together to get ahead, and we had never had the opportunity to\ndo that before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may sound strong, but for the first\ntime the patient was center stage, regardless of their condition\u2014rich or poor,\nblack or white. In spite of the differences, there was something that we could\nall agree on, which is that the \u201cfocus is on the patient.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those of us in decision-making\npositions have a duty to think about what the patient really needs. This is why\nwe have to cultivate a broader approach and stop naval gazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies within the health industry look out for themselves instead of seeking the common good. When a hospital wants to buy a medical device, what really matters is the price and mix of products that may be offered to them, as the hospitals\u2019 objective is to negotiate a patient-care package that will be the most cost-effective. The interest of healthcare businesses is based on protecting their own budgets and obtaining the greatest possible cost-effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"SpyGlass\u2122
SpyGlass\u2122 Discover 3-1000<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yet the pandemic got many people\njoining together to save others, and I think we, as an institution, should take\nthat example to completely rethink our structure and find a way to bring as\nmany patients into the system as possible, without being so concerned with\nprofit margins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have\novercome the contagion outbreak. What are the next steps for the sector?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I think\nthe answer to the problems we have in the sector lies in the diversity of\ngroups. We are going to find the best results in difference. It means no longer\nlooking within and stepping outside our structures to learn new ways of\nworking, with digital or even hybrid methods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic has\ntaught us a lot, and we have a duty to evolve. The term \u201cout of office,\u201d\nmeaning the treatment of patients outside hospitals, is something that was\nimplemented primarily when COVID-19 began, but it opened up new doors for the\nfuture of the healthcare sector, generating greater fluidity of patients and,\ntherefore, greater access and better care for patients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my\nexperience, hospitals whose management has a modern, digital mentality have\nachieved better results than traditional hospitals, and that\u2019s why I say that\nthe key to change lies with those of us who can make the decisions. We need to\nbe surrounded by people who can get on board with us and implement these\nchanges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014——————— <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boston Scientific is one of the\nindustry\u2019s most senior multinationals, developing, making, and selling medical\ndevices worldwide. One third of its operations are in Latin America, and it is\namong the top investors in R&D. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We spoke to Mauricio Ortiz, Latin America President for Boston Scientific, about how the pandemic has affected the health sector, and what opportunities have emerged from COVID-19. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":17724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ghi-analysis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28680,"href":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17723\/revisions\/28680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalhealthintelligence.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}