Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-11-16)

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Bloomberg Businessweek

ClaudiaSheinbaum

Mayor,MexicoCity

Whatproblemsdoyouhopetosolveduringyoursix-yearterm?

Mysloganforthecityis innovationandrights.I wantto

expandaccesstorights—notonlyeducation,health,butalso

cultureandsports.I alsowanttoimprovetheenvironment

inthepoorestpartsofthecity.

Thecityis veryunequal,andif

youwanttoreduceviolence,you

havetoreduceinequalities.

Can you give some specific

examplesofhowyoudothat?

Ontheeastsideofthecity

youhave1 squaremeterofgreen

areaperperson,andonthewest

thereare 10 squaremetersper

person.Wehavebuiltaround

10 newparksinthecity.We’ve

plantedabout 10 millionplants

andtrees.We’verescuedtworiversthatwerecontaminated

withsewage.

Youradministrationhasseta goalofreducingairpollutionby

30%.Howdoyouintendtodothat?

Wewanttobethecitywiththebiggestelectromobility

program,butwearebuildingthatwithtrolleys,notelectric

buses.We’regoingtohave 500 trolleysinthecity.

Howareyougoingtopayforallofthis?

BenitoJuárezoncesaid“youcannothavea richgovern-

mentanda poorpeople.”Wheredoyougetthemoney?

Yougetit byshrinkinggovernment.Andtheotherthingis

stoppingcorruption.

Hasthepandemicsetbacksomeofyourplans?

CovidhitMexicoCityvery,veryhard.Wearea cityof

10 millionthatis partofa metropolitanareaof 22 millionpeo-

ple.Mostoftheimportantprojectsaregoingtobedeveloped.

Wethoughtsomewouldbecompletedbytheendof2020,

andnowit probablywon’tbetill2021.Myteamknowsthatwe

cansacrificeotherthings,butnotwhatweoffertothepeople.

Howdoyoubalanceyourbackgroundasa scientistwithyour

dedicationtopolitics?

I thinkpoliticshastobepartofeverybody’slife.Thereare

manyissueswhereI agreewithnotonly[MexicanPresident]

LópezObradorbutalsowithwhatMorena[therulingparty]

standsfor.Weagreethat youcannotsellyouroil,your

resources,becauseyoulosepartofyoursovereignty.We

believe Mexico has a great future if we end corruption. And we

believe that education, health, and housing are basic rights.

�Interviewed by Nacha Cattan

Dr.SabahatAzim

Founder, Glocal Healthcare Systems

You are trained as a doctor. What prompted you to become an

entrepreneur?

One catalyst was that I lost my father to an unnecessary

surgery in a very expensive, big hospital. Then you realize

that the problem of health care being broken is not just for

the poor and the underserved. It’s everywhere.

What part of this broken system are you trying to fix?

In India, 28% of the population did not have access to a

doctor. In the rural areas, in the remote areas, clearly there is

the challenge that doctors are not available, that facilities may

not be available, and people may have less money. So doctors

migrate and start practicing in larger hospitals in bigger cities.

We said let’s see if we can create

a better model—something that

canmeetclinicaloutcomesas

wellasbeingaffordable.

What’sthesolutionyourstartup

cameupwith?

Whatwehavedoneistaken

theexaminingroom,thetestlab,

andthepharmacyandputthem

togetherintoa singlewhole.This

bringsdownthecostinterms

ofmoneyandtime.Ourlatest

innovation,calledHelloLyf,is

64 squarefeetandcanbeinstalledanywhere.

Canyouexplainhowtheconceptworksinpractice?

There isnophysicaldoctor,only a nursewho runs

youthroughthewholesystem.I,thedoctor,maybesit-

tinginBangaloreandthepatientisinOdisha,buttoday’s

technologyallowsyoutouserichvideotocarryoutanexam-

ination.Ourclinicsareequippedwitha digitalstethoscope,a

laryngoscope, a fetal Doppler. The quantity of medical data is

huge, it’s vast. So we built a clinical decision-support system

that basically ensures doctors are able to do better diagno-

ses. Drug interactions, dosages, contraindications are sorted

out, and doctors can focus on the patient rather than trying to

think through the data. Finally, the pharmacy is automated to

dispense medications. For the equivalent of about $4, you get

a doctor, your tests, and your medications.

And what kind of reception have your 240 clinics gotten?

In India and other poor countries, health care is only

sought for the wage earner. The old, the women, and the

children, they are neglected. Almost 50% of our patients are

women, which means we have increased the equity in society.

�Interviewed by Pradipta Mukherjee SHEINBAUM: HECTOR VIVAS/GETTY IMAGES. AZIM: COURTESY GLOCAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS. OVIOSU: STEVE JENNINGS/GETTY IMAGES. XIE: ALICE CHICHE/GETTY IMAGES

Allow us to introduceyoutotheengineergreeningMexicoCity,thedoctorbringinghealthcaretoIndia’shinterlands, the entrepreneur helping Nigerians go cashless, and the negotiator helping set China’s ambitious climate agenda

� �

The Pioneers

○ GAME CHANGERS

THE NEW ECONOMY