Reconstruct the skeleton, reconnect the neurons

Reconstruct the skeleton, reconnect the neurons    

The Driving Question: In the Philippines, are free market forces, unfettered by government intervention or regulation, adequate for providing appropriate deployment of the national information infrastructure in support of health and health care?

Let me start with a simple definition of a “free market”: A free market is a market economy based on supply and demand with little or no government control.[1] Based on the phrase, government control is not issue in a free market world. Business is business. Players can do anything they want around this domain given that they do not do acts liable to a nation’s supreme rule and ethical principles.

Then here comes the issue: The deployment of a National Information Infrastructure in support of health and healthcare. Infrastructure and Telecommunications (ICT), which is dominated by private companies, plays a critical role for its development and future. The NII will not work without its nerves and skeleton.

The national information infrastructure is a vast market for these ICT private players, why? It is their territory, their bread and butter and most importantly, our country has not yet laid the foundations before they started rolling out. They (at some point) did the legwork. During the early Philippine government, modernizing the infrastructure and telecommunications has already been planned, for they saw its potential and crucial role of uniting the archipelago and weld its diversities. But until now, this remains a blueprint. It was not fully acted upon and was passed on from administration to administration until it was slowly parked and was then overruled by private sectors. The deregulation and privatization acts added to the loose control over things. The government allowed these big players succumb to the pockets of the middle and low class citizens which are an enormous portion of the pyramid.  They control things to generate more profit. They dictate the tempo of an economy. 

The Philippines, like any other country, have a lot of players when it comes to this field which results to dreaded thing called “competition”. To some extent, business competition creates more gaps rather than binding to achieve a major goal: to make life easier through ICT’s. The profit generated from the ICT business is colossal. This in return, attracts more and more players to the domain, adding more complexities and chaos. The image on the left side is an example of a colossal revenue, Telecommunications. This chart was from the recent "text refund" mandated by the NTC to the two Telco moguls. They of course, do not want to abide. :) (image taken from: https://wawam.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/refund-telco2.jpg)            

For me, good governance is still the key. The government initiating plans for the improvement of health through the use of the present technology is a great start. Through the Philippine Health Interoperability and Exchange framework, we had a clearer view of the future of the NII. But it has to rebuild its skeletons and reconnect its neural network. The government should act as the steward of its development.

Based from history and the readings provided, the government cannot do these alone. At some point, it will still need some help from other sources (e.g. Private companies), even if it’ll be minimal. On the other hand, the private sector should debunk its high profitability ideology and support the advocacies for a national information infrastructure.  It is easier said than done?  From here, policies and laws take charge.  The government has to review the present ICT situation and design strategies and amendments that do not impede both public and private interests. These will give direction to a more favorable system. It can yield to an endless private-public relationship that should be dictated more by the public sector. It can create an equilibrium where in the rules are beneficial to both sides. The Private-Public Partnership (PPP) is the best model for this idea. In an article about PPP, Marissa Miley stated,” The definition of a PPP differs greatly across sectors, countries, and even US government agencies. Broadly speaking, such a partnership involves financial and in-kind commitments from private players such as corporations or foundations to enhance public projects. Ideally, the partners share common goals.[2]” A win-win situation for both sectors will render positive results.  Examples of an envisioned collaboration, 

1. The most 2006 report found in the Department of Energy (DOE) website states that electrification of rural areas is not yet 100% attained. Electricity should be accessible to all Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA’s) which will be paid by the government for a minimum cost but would not hurt the electricity industry.

2. Another example: Mindanao has its own network of communication lines since early 1970’s. What if it will be powered by any of the two telecom giants just to create a Mindanao health line? 

To summarize, we cannot discard the idea of a free market in the construction of the national information infrastructure. A definitive action from the public sector or authorities will help regulate the environment.  It will be more effective with government intervention. In the end,  a free market with fair-play.       

Let me end with this phrase cited from T.H. White “The Destiny of Man is to unite, not to divide. If you keep on dividing you end up as a collection of monkeys throwing nuts at each other out of separate trees.”      

Sources:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC116307/

http://uhmis1.doh.gov.ph/UnifiedHMIS/draft-issuances/229-philippines-ehealth-strategic-framework-and-plan-2013-2017-version-3-0.html

http://www.csi-india.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=6d3e2cd0-8004-48b7-91ab-b2823215dbcd&groupId=10157

https://www.doe.gov.ph/power-and-electrification/expanded-rural-electrification
http://freemarketeconomy.net/what-is-a-free-market-economy/

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[1] http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/freemarket.asp

[2] http://www.mintpressnews.com/public-private-partnerships-win-win-global-health/193630/