Bureaucrats need to fix disconnect

RATs (rapid antigen tests) are the new heroes in town. Increasing demand for PCR testing and limited lab testing capabilities have made it so. High demand from the public, GPs, Covid-19 testing stations, pharmacies, and businesses have shed light on growing frustrations. The rollout of RAT tests, handling of testing delays, and mishaps are the clear source of these frustrations.

Recent misreporting of testing sample delays, PCR testing capabilities, and RAT tests’ availability have placed the Government and ministry officials – particularly Dr Bloomfield – under fire for misleading the public again.

Who could forget the puzzling graph on 2021 vaccination volumes and timings? Ministry of Health officials failed to provide information on its original data, noting the graph was a freehand illustration of forecasts. Despite several Official Information Act requests for evidence of the dataset, ministry officials concealed the numbers from the public until an Ombudsman investigation. Now we’re met with yet another incident where advice from ministry officials and public health messaging failed to show the reality of our testing capabilities.

Health messaging from officials seems to favour political points over acting with integrity and in the public’s best interests. Rather than owning our testing shortfalls, they gave us misrepresentations of our lab workforce shortages and the medical lab profession from the 1pm podium.

A one-off incident is acceptable, even understandable, considering human error is inevitable. Yet this recent PCR testing fiasco is one of many incidents displaying a mismatch between reality and narrative. There are many questions in need of answers and causes for concern. Is the Ministry of Health or any other public service agency still an independent advisory voice? Do public servants act in the public’s best interests, irrespective of the government of the day? Are ministry officials and the public sector keeping in step with realities facing families and communities?

I’m left wondering; are the public service sector and public servants friends or foes?

This disconnect between bureaucratic ivory towers and the realities of life is a reminder. Whilst we need transparency and accountability from our politicians, we must also demand it of our public servants.

Communicating public health messages requires simplifying complex concepts, no matter if it is at an individual, community, or national level. While that is a given, simplicity is not a pass for stretching the truth to promote partisan political messaging or appease government officials. Nor is it an excuse to misrepresent reality.

Part of leadership is defining and facing reality. “Keeping it real” is a phrase coined when things require truth and honesty, even if it disappoints, is difficult to hear or meets with a bad reaction. It involves remaining genuine, candid, and faithful to reality. This phrase serves as a reminder that honesty is the best policy.

For our politicians, ministry officials, and public servants, this phrase captures the importance of keeping the real in REALity in a world full of embellished narratives and vast information.