Covid-19: Kagwe calls for smooth information flow
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe provides an update on coronavirus pandemic, at Afya House in Nairobi on March 20, 2020. PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Mr Kagwe said information released to the public must be done efficiently to boost efforts to fight the virus.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has warned officers in his ministry against releasing information relating to coronavirus to the media without clearance by his office to avoid disorganisation.
Mr Kagwe said information released to the public must be done efficiently to boost efforts against the pandemic.
"Any communication that pertains to policy, emergencies, or is of national strategic importance should not be made without clearance and authority from this office," he said in a memo to senior officials and copied to all agencies under the ministry.
Experts advised to practice due diligence when offering opinion about pandemic.
The memo is addressed to the CEOs of Kenya Nuclear Authority, Public Health Officers Council, Clinical Officers Council, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, Kenya Nutrition and Dieticians Institute (KNDI), Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board, Physiotherapy Council of Kenya, Nursing Council of Kenya, Kenya Medical and Practitioners and Dentists Board, Kenya Health Professional Oversight Authority, Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital, Kenyatta National Hospital, National Hospital Insurance Fund, Kenya Medical Training College, National Aids Control Council, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency.
"Any contravention of these instructions may be construed to constitute a disciplinary offence and accordingly attract action against the errant officers," he said in the letter dated March 4.
