If he wants to succeed, Gierran cannot be a one-man army. The work ahead is too tough and too big for a lone ranger. He needs to have strong backup, but they should not be the boys from Taft alone. Better to recruit alumni of NBI’s neighbor, the Philippine General Hospital.

He needs to form a multidisciplinary team, without a single OJT. This is so because this management change is akin to switching surgeons in the middle of an operation.

Tens of thousands of sick Filipinos rely on PhilHealth every hour of the day. This P150 billion a year corporation cannot afford a pause. It is not a building which can be closed for disinfection. Gierran should multitask: ramping up service while removing the rot.

There are outstanding professionals within PhilHealth. He should tap them for their institutional memory. They know how to repair the institution they love. As to new senior executives who are needed for PhilHealth’s great reset, the Philippines is the world’s HR office with no shortage of talent who can be recruited.

The first to assist and oversee Gierran should be the PhilHealth Board, especially the five Cabinet men there. They should stop being missing-in-action in the affairs of an important health agency. (###)