The President of ISA, Bernardo Vargas, highlights the significant contribution of the company through its subsidiaries in the country, to the success of the “Un Respiro para Chile” program, which allowed for the development of the first locally manufactured mechanical ventilator.
Amid the pandemic that affects Chile and the world due to the spread of the coronavirus and the need to increase the capacity of critical care beds and associated technological supplies, the ISA Group, through its subsidiaries ISA Interchile and ISA Intervial Chile, were an integral part of the “Un Respiro para Chile” program, which aimed to create prototypes of locally manufactured mechanical ventilators to assist critically ill patients affected by COVID-19 throughout the country. The President of the multilatina ISA, Bernardo Vargas, referred to the active role that the company has assumed to collaborate with health authorities and the importance of public-private cooperation in the face of this health emergency.
-What led ISA to get involved in this project for the local manufacture of mechanical ventilators?
At ISA, we firmly believe in the value of shared responsibility and public-private collaboration to confront this COVID-19 pandemic. That is why we have implemented a Humanitarian Aid Plan in all our subsidiaries, which includes a series of actions to support vulnerable communities, strengthen hospital capacities, and urgently reactivate the economy. It is in that spirit of commitment to Chile that, through our subsidiary ISA INTERVIAL Chile, the largest interurban road concessionaire in the country, and ISA INTERCHILE, a strategic electric transmission company, we participated in the “Un Respiro para Chile” initiative, addressing the urgent need to advance in the development of locally manufactured mechanical ventilators that allow for greater flexibility in the healthcare system.
-What role should companies play in an emergency situation like the one we are currently experiencing?
Our purpose at ISA is to create Connections that Inspire, and we express this in each of our actions and projects. Therefore, in difficult times, companies must go beyond the efficient operation of our businesses and what the law dictates: we must exercise our leadership to mobilize wills and use all our capabilities to provide high-impact solutions. As we have declared in our ISA2030 Strategy, our commitment is to generate Sustainable Value, which implies leveraging the SDGs and participating in global agenda issues. Today, it is clear that the sustainable development of our businesses depends on our social license and our corporate validity.
-What importance do you give to innovation in this context, and how do you see the future?
Innovation is one of the four pillars that support our 2030 strategy, and we see it as a lever not only to enhance our businesses, increase competitiveness, and develop new value propositions but also to mitigate the impact of crises. In that line, the local development of mechanical ventilators in which ISA participated by financing a significant part of this innovation represents good news for Chile and all of Latin America. Today, we realize how necessary creativity is and how important it is to support new developers and talents to add value to human capital and promote intelligent and sustainable socioeconomic development.
