Candy Day candy@healthlink.org.za
The flexibility, speed and ease of use of the Internet as an interactive forum was recently put to work during the ongoing restructuring of South Africa’s Medicines Regulatory Authority.
Poor communication was one of the key criticisms of the Medicines Control Council and yet ironically poor communication and information dissemination were also key factors in the media hype surrounding the transformation of the Medicines Regulatory Authority in South Africa.
| Example of discussion of the MRA issue on DRUGINFO (edited). Italicised text represents extracts from the original message which the current author is responding to. |
| From: don@dbn.lia.net To: "Drug Information & Policy" druginfo@healthlink.org.za Subject: [druginfo] Re: MRA - Media perceptions Date sent: Sun, 3 May 1998 02:36:59 +0200 On 1998-04-10 Andy Gray wrote to druginfo@healthlink.org.za:- MRA - Media perceptions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first many health workers heard of the report of the Review panel was in the media And such was also the case for both the general public and media. This scenario unquestionably set the scene for the subsequent events. - hence the predominance of reports relating to the "disbandment" of the MCC, the mention of the "pesky" MCC, and most importantly the apparent link formed by the media between the events of the first week of April and the preceding spat over Virodene clinical trials. That this link should be made was perhaps not surprising considering that the Deputy President and a provincial Premier had both expressed their views on the matter of Virodene. However, following the placement of the text of the report on the Internet and the subsequent media releases by the Minister of Health and the MCC last week, this media image still prevails. It is therefore worthwhile to review what the report in question has to say about Virodene and matters pertaining to that issue. Responsibility for the media reaction - and that of the public - must be laid fairly and squarely at the doors of the Ministry and Department of Health. Their general mindset and modus operandi from the inception of the health debate in 1995 has in no way measured up to the standards of general performance, transparency, candour and accountability expected in a democracy. The Review Team commented adversely on the communication failure between the MCC and other concerned parties and implied that the MCC was the prime culprit. As evidenced by the current issue and past behaviour both the Ministry and Department are in my opinion equally, if not more, guilty of communicatory ineptitude. Couple this deficiency with the other general perceptions (possibly more than perceptions?) of these bodies - confrontational and autocratic approach, poor information provision, poor communication skills, lack of appreciation for good public relations, arrogation to themselves and their advisers of all health care wisdom - and it is not at all surprising that the media reacted as they did. |
Just one of the ways to address this is to provide timeous, accessible information through such media as the web and email. Within a short time of the media release, the contentious report of the task team (The Medicines Regulatory System in South Africa: Review and proposals for reform) was available at http://www.healthlink.org.za/hlink/info/medicine/content.htm for interested parties to measure facts against reports in the media. Further discussion, opinions and feedback from the Department of Health and members of the review team took place through open discussion forums – the international conference on Essential Drugs (E-drug) and the South African focussed DRUGINFO.
| Subscribe to DRUGINFO by sending email to: lyris@healthlink.org.za with the following text in the email message: subscribe DRUGINFO Firstname Surname Alternatively subscribe or view the archives through the web interface from http://www.healthlink.org.za/hlink/info/hlelists.asp |
To facilitate access to the process and implications of legislative and policy change for health, HealthLink has developed a Health Legislation & Policy Page ( http://www.healthlink.org.za/hlink/info/law.htm ). It is grouped by topic, e.g. control of medicines, and goes through the stages of development of policy - white papers, bills, comments and final legislation (Acts).
The Government of National Unity index ( http://www.polity.org.za/gnu/gnuindex.html ) contains comprehensive listing of white papers, bills, acts etc for all areas of government.
| The St James university hospital example of using Internet technology
(PJ, 17/1/98) The pharmacy has seen their drug information service in particular evolve to meet the demands of a changing health care sector. "In the light of the recent developments in communications technology, we believe that the way pharmacist handle information, and in particular the methods whereby we convey information to others, needs to undergo a radical overhaul… Our experience with our website has been invaluable in helping to develop our department…a major beneficial effect of this project has been our enhanced standing with medical colleagues, who are only too willing to use our assistance with the new technology to enable them to do what has baffled them for so long – to cope with the information revolution. ( http://www.pharmweb.net/pwmirror/uk/stjames/pharmwebstjames.html ) |
The Online Medical Dictionary ( http://www.graylab.ac.uk/omd/ ) provides a brief but comprehensive explanation of medical terms.
The SA Pulmonology Society & SA Respiratory Journal is online at http://www.pulmonology.co.za/ although the journal hasn’t been updated recently
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