The current global health crisis has awakened the spirit of ‘modern-day bayanihan’—from ordinary citizens going out of their means to be of help, to private firms exhausting their resources to augment government efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and to mitigate its impact to the public.
Among the local companies who have since been supporting national measures to address the urgency of the COVID-19 situation is Ayala Corporation. It has partnered with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), the Department of Health (DOH), the Asian Development Bank, and other local firms to launch the Taskforce T3 to ramp up the country’s testing, tracing, and treatment efforts to contain Covid-19. Among the projects taken on by Ayala was the conversion of the World Trade Center into WTC: We Heal as One Center, equating a 9,700 sqm portion of the WTC to a coronavirus facility with 502 beds enclosed in controlled isolation cubicles, as well as work areas and quarters for medical frontliners and examination rooms.
The company also spearheaded the establishment of the Philippine Red Cross Covid-19 testing center in Mandaluyong with 3,000 testing capacity, and has donated swabbing booths for all the four mega Swabbing Centers located in Palacio de Maynila, the Enderun Colleges in Taguig City, the Philippine Arena in Bulacan, and the Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
With the country still facing perhaps what can be dubbed as one of the greatest challenges of the nation, Ayala continues its efforts to present more solutions as it recently introduced its on-demand HealthNow app which aims to grant medical access to Filipinos, and its locally-manufactured UCL Ventura Flow Generator, a non-invasive alternative breathing device for Covid-19 patients.
These, plus all the other initiatives will be highlighted in the upcoming webinar entitled “Innovation for the Nation: The role of private firms in the country’s fight against Covid-19.”
The said webinar gathers industry experts and executives including Arthur Tan, President and CEO of AC Industrials and CEO of IMI, Paolo Borromeo, President and CEO of AC Health and Ayala Corporation Group Head for Corporate Strategy and Development, Issa Guevarra-Cabreira, Managing Partner of 917Ventures, Carla Buencamino, Assistant Vice President for Sales and Business Development of IMI, and Christian Besler, CEO of VIGOS Health to bring an informative discussion on various Covid-19-related responses from the private sector.
Catch it live on August 20, 2020, at 2:00 PM on Manila Bulletin’s Facebook page and on Manila Bulletin Lifestyle’s Facebook page.