Ganesh Singh of Hilleman Labs
contributed the winning entry to "Challenge 66",
an attempt in understanding
survival at extremely impoverished conditions.
His ingenuity struck an
innovative cord, as the blog explains below.
Challenge 66 was
about survival. It was about living your life, when you are down to the wire,
with only 66 rupees in your pocket. How does one survive on just 66 rupees??
And that too for at least 3 days? That's the challenge we posed to our
employees, in an event hosted by Hilleman Labs two weeks ago.
Imagine, we told
them, that you are shipwrecked on a deserted island. You are the lone survivor
and you must find a way to live for at least 3 days before you can be rescued.
So pack a kit, we said, that lets you survive, with not much else to go on. Be
bold, be creative. That was it. Those were our instructions.
And boy, were they
creative! Amazingly, our staff came up with a dizzying variety of innovative
solutions ranging from the mysterious to the mind boggling. While most purchased
the expected bottles of drinking water, and packets of Parle biscuits, others
were far more creative.
Some bought small
knives, others candles and matches, some camphor to pray to God, and yet others
sugarcane sticks that doubled as rich sources of nutrition as well as poles to hold up
tarpaulin and construct a temporary shelter.
The range of thinking
that went into the assembly of kits was truly impressive. The competition was
thick.
But the winning entry
came from an unexpected staff member far removed from any doings of Vaccine
R&D. In
fact, this member manages the Hilleman buildings and facilities.
Mr. Ganesh Singh is
an ex-Navy officer, dedicated to creative thought in everyday living. It is no
surprise that he would know best about surviving a shipwreck on a deserted
island, more than anybody else.
Mr. Singh packed in
his kit, a simple water purification system to provide sufficient drinking
water for a few days. He bought a fishing line that would allow him to eat from
the sea and
survive for days, if not for months. He also bought flint to start a fire and
some simple tools to hunt and gather. He had a make-shift shelter that
would protect him from sunstroke or from a sudden flash of lightning.
Most impressively,
Mr. Singh acquired his entire collection using just 66 rupees. He showed us how
one survives on just 66 rupees, if one's life depended on it. Mr. Singh taught
us innovative ideas can come from anyone.
Of course, the big
question on everyone's mind was why 66? Why not 99 or 101? Or 555? Well, the
answer lies in a very simple fact. It turns out that in the world of affordable
vaccines, to which Hilleman Labs is dedicated, one often hears the mantra:
"a vaccine for dollar a dose". That is, a dose of a vaccine sold
for just one dollar. This
mantra has now become the cornerstone of vaccine development in poor countries,
so much so that it has become the de facto expectation. We reasoned, if a
vaccine could be manufactured and sold for such a low price, what does a dollar
- roughly 66 rupees - really buy you these days?
Vaccine manufacture
is a rather difficult and complex process. There are many complicated steps involved
and each batch of the vaccine produced must undergo a battery of rigorous tests
to ensure that it is of the highest quality, and standards meeting those of the
World Health Organization. Vaccine manufacturers have often expressed that with
rising costs and increasing stringency in quality, control, it has become
difficult to meet the demand of "a dollar a dose" vaccine.
And yet, Challenge 66
showed us the street value of 66 rupees. Of how the common man can in fact
stretch his 66 rupees a long way, especially if his survival depended on it.
Mr. Singh showed us very cleverly that 66 rupees can buy you plenty, to keep
you going for a few days on basic life necessities. So why should it not be
possible to produce a life-saving dose of vaccine for that price?
Indeed, we feel that
the real challenge of producing low-cost vaccines is upon us. We are surrounded
by very smart people. Technology is ever advancing. There must exist simple
solutions that can be brought to bear in vaccine manufacture. Innovation and
frugality can go hand and hand. If so, then we must continue to seek novel ways
to produce safe and affordable vaccines. As the world around us stretches its
resources for survival, it becomes our moral duty to provide them cheap
vaccines of highest quality, so people can lead healthy, productive lives. That
is exactly what Challenge 66 taught us.
