But a lot of the confusion that residents have is because of the limited information that comes out of the Ministry of Health. With numerous communications officers, there is still no point person to relay vital and timely information to the wider public. And we've seen the comments on social media, begging for more clarity whether in relation to the COVID numbers and deaths or with the constantly changing regulations. Even for us in the media, it's difficult without a DHS to know who to direct questions to, and when we do get to ask questions, they are limited. Today we took this complaint to the PM.
Courtney Menzies:
"Another complaint is that there isn't enough information coming out of the ministry of health, the public is complaining that the ministry is being transparent, when they have questions, the questions aren't being answered, when we have questions we get limited during press conferences on the off chance there's a press conference, we get limit, when the minister has a great announcement to make, he goes on a morning show rather than to the media and the media has to clamor to get that announcement. He's not being transparent, this is the complaint from the public."
Hon John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I don't think it's a matter of not being transparent, here I am answering the question that you're asking so we're not hiding anything from you."
Courtney Menzies:
"But he doesn't he cuts us off."
Hon John Briceno, Prime Minister
"But that's probably something that he will have to work on, to be able to, not everybody get used to be able to answer the media, so probably something we will have to work on and I'll ask the minister to work on that and to ensure that he can answer the questions you all have to ask."
