One of the buildings of the New National Hospital. Photo credit: www.elettricaste.com
The Ministry of Health Wellness, Human Services and Gender Relation, in a move to improve its relationship with the media, hosted a workshop expected to equip its staff with the required skills to better engage the media.
Members of the media and several senior officers and heads of department within that ministry converged at the National Health and Wellness Centre based in the New National Hospital on Thursday (Mar.20), to participate in the seminar for that purpose.
Communications Officer within the Ministry of Health Kurt Reynolds said the forum came about as a the ministry’s recognised the need to train officers who interface with the media.
“We understand it’s important to build the relationship that we have with the media especially with the sensitivity of the nature of the ministry itself. Coming out of this, we will see the development and approval of the ministry ‘s communications process and protocols. They are very important because those will guide how information is shared to the public and what the information is and how it goes out,” he explained.
“Additionally, we also intend to bring together all the media houses … with the Ministry of Health staff, and to present to them a sort of directory [or] a sort of policy or guideline as to how to get information when it is required; because we understand and appreciate that information is important to the public and we want to ensure the right information and at the right times are presented,” he added.
Another goal of the workshop, he said, is to educate the media on the “different complexities and sensitivities” of health work, so there can be an understanding as to the reasons for the withholding of certain information in some instances.
Jerry George, a media consultant and one of the facilitators of the seminar, said the workshop is timely and necessary.
He said public servants need to understand the importance of the media in furthering their objectives in disseminating information to the wider populace.
George said he believes that the workshop will help both the media and ministry in understanding each other’s roles and eventually improve the whole experience for both parties.
“I think what needs to be done is that the public servants need to understand that they are the owners of public information. Its not private information and once they can sort of leverage the information they can be much better in terms of being appreciated by the public and … seen as professionals,” George stated.
Among other facilitators at the workshop were Editor and Journalist Guy Ellis, Image and Media Consultant Sharon Williams and Systems Analyst, Public Sector Modernisation Richmond Felix.