HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL
The song Smile, with the music composed by Charlie Chaplin, has a line about lighting up one’s face with gladness - and this has been the global mission of AS Watson, to put smiles on the faces of its customers. In the Philippines recently was Malina Ngai, AS Watson CEO for Asia and Europe and chairperson of AS Watson Global Sustainability Committee. Along with a ‘brood’ of Watson executives, managers and young, NextGen Watson volunteers, Ngai was in Clark, Pampanga for several days.
Malina Ngai and Hanks Lee with the patient and mother right after the child’s operation.
What surprised me, was to discover it was not some conference of Watson regional heads, or some Watson Marketing powwow. But rather, they were all here on a medical mission of cleft palate surgeries, as performed at Medical City Clark, with Operation Smile International (OSI). The partnership of Watsons Philippines with Operation Smile is on its 10th year.
As Malina Ngai and Hanks Lee (director of Corporate Communication and Brand Marketing) were eager to explain, as the global brand AS Watson, collaborating with OSI began in earnest in 2018 - with a target of 10,000 such surgeries by 2030, and they’ve already reached 6,500 on this 2023 mission. The reason for selecting this particular cause is how the surgeries are life-transforming for those suffering from cleft palates, and literally allow those operated on to face life with a brand new smile.
Cleft lip or cleft palate is medically termed OFC, orofacial cleft disposition. It’s a common birth defect, somewhat more in males than females, and in America is more prevalent with Asian-American live births. It’s a key health issue, with substantial health care costs, and with associated psychological and social ramifications. Here in the Philippines, it’s tracked as 1 out of every 500 live births, with China and Japan tracking marginally higher.
AS Watson CEO Malina Ngai interacting with one of the children.
The defect is associated with a genetic syndrome, and then factors such as a mother’s poor health in early pregnancy, smoking, drinking, and taking certain anti-epileptic medications are all contributory to its incidence. To help reduce the chances of having these birth defects, a multivitamin with 400 micrograms of folic acid is often prescribed for daily use during pregnancy.
The problem here in the Philippines, according to Benedetta Spinoza of Operation Smile International was that in the economically challenged communities, there’s still a lot of superstition and trauma associated with orofacial cleft disposition. Babies are treated as defective, parents are ashamed; as the child gets older, they’re treated as outcasts, traumatized by how they’re made fun of and picked on - and this stunts their mental and social development, as they’re conditioned to think there’s something wrong with them.
In fact, patient mapping is a formidable challenge, and OSI and Operation Smile Philippines have to work with the PNP, utilize radio and social media, to uncover and track those who suffer from OFC. Danilo Chiong of Watsons Philippines, expounded on these difficulties and how handling the parents is often an issue unto itself, as beyond the fact that they’ve often ‘hidden’ their affected child, they’re immediately afraid of the cost implications for coming forward.
AS Watson, Watsons Philippines, and Operation Smile International at Medical City Clark.
Accompanying Malina and Hanks were NextGen volunteers from several of the Asian and European Watsons markets. They were asked to submit videos, talk about volunteerism and what they hoped to experience and accomplish, and selections were made on that basis. I drove to Clark and arrived early at Medical City; so I had the chance to witness the Watson volunteers interacting with the patient children, and I wasn’t announced as media. The little media event was to happen later in the afternoon, when the press contingent arrived from Manila.
I mention all of this because I was genuinely touched by the involvement and patience of all the volunteers, including CEO Malina Ngai. It’s easy to just be in the same room as the recovering children, but she was interacting with them in a real sense. When one of the children was brought out of the operating room, both Malina and Hanks were on hand to help the mother carry her child to the post-op ward. And when she joined us for the press con she had all the details of the last operation, how it was corrective for a previous cleft operation that had not been done right.
For Malina Ngai, it’s about prioritizing communities, and seeing these afflicted as members of the Watsons community. It’s their mantra of People, Planet and Product finding concrete manifestation through sustainability objectives - that in this case, talk of their social agenda.
The upcoming Manila Bulletin Sustainability Forum is very proud to welcome Watsons as a returning participant. If last year’s participation was more about the environment agenda of the company, I was so happy to witness their multi-pronged approach, and how their CSR has evolved to true ESG (environment, social and governance), under a sustainability umbrella.