Being human is an individual characteristic. Even with a perfect team or a team within which there are two diametrically opposed views, the real manager distinguishes himself by skillfulness in assuming responsibility for the taken decision and for its implementation. The manager’s role in handling emergencies is decisive, while his human traits depend on the personality, disaster medicine specialist Mihail Pîslă, lecturer of the School of Public Health Management, stated in IPN’s public debate “Look into the future after a year of pandemic”.
Mihail Pîslă said a decisive role, primarily in biological-social emergencies, is played by communication. “It is easy to say how things should be done, but it is hard to do them, to ensure communication is credible and understood by everyone. A national communication group was created in our country, but there is no one who could manage it. Communication in emergencies is a profession and an art. Those who have such competence are successful, while those who do not will be less successful,” stated the expert.
According to him, any pandemic has three components: source of infection, person who can be infected and transmission ways. The required actions are ordinary: identification of the source of infection so as to isolate it and stop its spread and ensure the body’s resistance in eventual risks. These seem ordinary things, but the problem resides in communication. “Communication and solidarity based on acknowledgement between the authorities and the population could not be ensured to the desired extent. The fact that we have many shortcomings was the cause why we reached the situation in which we are now,” stated Mihail Pîslă.
As to the lessons learned and lessons to be learned after a year of pandemic, he said the first lesson was that the population’s health is an uncontestable value of society. The second is that the population’s health is very vulnerable. The third lesson is that the health system should ensure permanent training so as to be ready for an eventual situation that can affect the population’s health. Complex, multidimensional preparation is need, starting from the assessment of risks and impact, forecasts, diminution measures prevention, spread, response and liquidation of consequences. “This task should not be carried out each year. It is enough to face such a challenge once in ten years and, if the system wasn’t ready and didn’t cope, the failures or the successes will make history,” concluded Mihail Pîslă.
The public debate “Look into the future after a year of pandemic” is the 180th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
