THE Ministry of Health (MoH) has highlighted the need to increase partnership with media broadcasters to raise awareness on public health issues and prevent misinformation by using the radio as a mouthpiece to get their messages across.
“The ministry alone cannot run any health education programmes without the help of outside partners, especially those from RTB and Kristal FM,”said Hjh Norsiah Hj Johari, head of the Health Promotion Centre, during a two-day health seminar for deejays and media presenters on Saturday.
Some of the matters discussed by the 40 participants during the seminar was how to address rumours, especially regarding pandemics such as Influenza A (H1N1).
One of the participants raised the issue of transparency, explaining that it was sometimes exhausting to get a simple answer for a straigh forward question from MoH.
The RTB presenter said that when she tried to contact the ministry for information, she was often passed off from person to person, without getting a straight answer.
Officers from the Health Promotion Centre responded by saying that they should contact the ministry’s public relations officers directly to clarify any information.
The media also underlined the need for the ministry to improve its website to include both English and Malay bulletins, since they find it difficulty to translate medical terminology from English.
DJ Frankie from RTB’s Pilihan FM, said that the seminar had been “pretty informative” and that theMoH provided them with media kits so they would be equipped with up-to-date information on public health issues in the Sultanate.
“We usually get our information from the Internet but the seminar has been enlightening. At least now we have the basic information we can work together to protect the image of MoH. RTB is under the Prime Minster’s Office so it’s just like one government agency helping another government agency out,” said the deejay.
Shahiran Sheriffuddin, Health Facilities Officer for the Health Promotion Centre told The Brunei Times that participants’ feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“The comments we received on the feedback forms were great. All the participants seem to love the seminar,” he said, adding that the stress management presentation was the most popular among the participants.
Latest by Quratul-Ain Bandial:
- Verdict on human trafficking case set for January 22
- Teleconsult wins top ICT award
- New 24-Hr Breastfeeding Hotline
- LRT can work despite cheap petrol for cars
- 8 in 10 want LRT system
