Male’, Maldives – Alleging the the Ministry of Health has continuously failed in providing equal opportunities to media, the Maldives Media Council (MMC), has met with the Minister of Health of Maldives, Ahmed Naseem to discuss areas of improvement.
During this meeting, MMC highlighted that the Ministry, in the past, has failed to invite all media outlets to events organized by the Ministry, and that timely information has also not been provided equally to all media. These issues were recently expressed in the Ministry’s media Viber group as well.
The meeting was attended by the President of MMC, Shahubaan Fahumee and Vice President of the Council, Hussain Sageef. The Ministry was represented by Minister Naseem and other high levels members of the Ministry, during the meeting.
This comes following a recent statement by MMC, which highlighted that the Ministry failed to invite all media outlets to an event held by the Ministry of Health on the 24th of January. Many outlets have highlighted that this issue has been ongoing since the term of former Health Minister Abdullah Ameen.
A statement by released following the meeting by MMC read that Minister Naseem has reassured that equality will be ensured in provision of opportunities to the media, and that questions will be answered in a more timely manner in the future. It also stated that weekly meetings will be held with the media by the Ministry and that all updates regarding Covid-19 will also be relied to media outlets accurately. The Minister is also said to have promised the formulation of a media department within the Ministry to assist media outlets in delivering information to the public with regards to the health sector of the country.
In return, the Minister also requested media to be more responsible, and adhere to the codes of conduct, in reporting news in the country.
