[Ismail Umit]

The pandemic has thrown into sharp focus the shortcomings of public-private healthcare procurement systems.This crisis presents an opportunity to learn and to reshape these systems in time for the next emergency.The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the case for improving the governance of procurement of critical supplies such as ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE). Over the course of this emergency, in which global supply chains have been disrupted – initially by the Chinese lockdown and subsequently by a surge in demand from all affected countries – authorities at all institutional levels and private healthcare providers have competed with each other to maintain their supplies of healthcare services.In many nations, even long before the pandemic, public healthcare budgets were under stress – and this has pushed public and private healthcare providers to find ways to balance growing demand against existing resources. The procurement of medical devices, technology and pharmaceutical products, the prices of which have been increasing above the level of general inflation for years, has been a principle focus of such policies, together with the general shift from hospital acute care towards outpatient services that are better able to address non-transmittable and chronic diseases.

1. Lack of preparation. Despite the existence of pandemic plans at the national and regional levels, the system was not prepared to face the surge in demand. Commoditized products such as PPE, that are widely available in normal times, proved to be bottlenecks. Common procurement management practice would recommend stockpiling in this case. However, as the US example shows, even strategic reserves are not an answer because of the problems of allocating materials between competing demands and the sheer cost of maintaining such a system over time. Contractual remedies also proved to be illusory, as many multinational firms found it impossible to fulfil their obligations in the presence of an international supply shock. 

2. Lack of coordination. The lack of coordination between national and regional levels has placed stress on procurement, production and delivery systems. Government authorities, private companies, donors and local hospitals were all trying to place orders at the same time. In this context, the actual level of need for medical supplies was not clear.

3. Procurement centralization was structured as a top-down cost-cutting initiative, thus hampering public-private collaboration. 

[Ismail Umit]

Digital technologies and digital platforms are new in determining health needs and providing healthcare creates opportunities.Preventive health services,digital technologies offer new and effective solutions in all health services, from early diagnosis to life-long maintenance.These technologies have potential to lead to transformations in the health system.It is important what digitalization is and what needs to be understood from the digitalization process.Healthcare industry faces challenges in availability, quality and cost of care. Healthcare professions struggle to provide healthcare efficiently to meet this challenges. On the other hand,expectations of individuals are growing about getting better health outcomes for themselves and their relatives. Individuals want to be better informed about their genetic profile, the diseases they have and might have, and the availability of healthcare. A new phenomenon, quantified self, allowsindividuals to measure and monitor their health status in real time and helps them to control their health. Functions of monitoring, tracking and warning about behavior changing in quantified self is provided by some tools like software and wearable technologies. Wearable technology includes items, such as jewelry, glasses and clothing- worn on, in and around the body- incorporating sensors and other electronic technologies.

[Ismail Umit]

If the glasses have a thermal sensor,a first responder can take a patient’s temperature without ever touching patients. And they send real-time audio and video to the hospital. And this protects first responders from COVID-19.