Summit focuses on partnerships enabling access to healthcare
WATERFALL - Novartis, a healthcare company, launched its first partner summit at its new headquarters in Waterfall, Midrand.
Members of the media, government, healthcare professionals, partners in the pharmaceutical industry, Novartis associates and leaders of industry bodies attended the event.
The summit addressed how the level of care and patient access to pharmaceuticals could be improved within South Africa, as well as to forge meaningful partnerships to continually improve the local healthcare landscape.
Novartis South Africa CEO and country president, Thomas Kowallik, said last year, the company’s products reached more than one billion patients globally.
He stated, “Through the Novartis Partner Summit, we have the chance to work together around how we can bring the knowledge, innovation and passion we all feel to change the healthcare landscape so more and more patients can benefit from better care.”
A collaborative approach is required going forward to achieve access to affordable healthcare in a way that can both sustain the market and allow for leading-edge innovation to be brought in, he said. “With a little co-operation between the government, private medical insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry, we have the potential to develop a strategy and system that will deliver quality healthcare to all South Africans,” added Kowallik.
Media entrepreneur and founder of Moneyweb, Alec Hogg, also addressed the audience on the future of the economy and the impact on healthcare in South Africa. The summit was concluded with an inspirational talk by neuroscientist, Paralympian and cancer survivor Dr William Tan.
Details: www.norvatis.co.za
