Journalists invited for 11 am, State Minister left at 10:45 am
Photo: Agamir Somoy
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare invited journalists to attend an event at 11 am. However, when they arrived at the venue at the scheduled time, they found that State Minister for Health and Family Welfare M A Muhith had already delivered his remarks and left 15 minutes earlier. Although Md. Kamruzzaman Chowdhury, secretary of the Health Services Division, was also listed as a special guest, he did not attend the event.
The incident took place Thursday at the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital in the capital.
According to the invitation sent Wednesday afternoon to the Health Ministry's media WhatsApp group, the program was scheduled to begin at 11 am Thursday. The invitation also stated that the state minister and the secretary of the Health Services Division would be present.
However, when journalists arrived at 11 am, they found that a tea break was underway. A stakeholder workshop involving government and private sector physicians was scheduled to take place afterward.
Syeed Mehbub Ul Kadir, associate professor at the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital, said the state minister arrived shortly before 10 am and remained at the event for about an hour. After delivering his remarks, he left the venue at around 10:45 am. Syeed Mehbub Ul Kadir delivered the welcome address at the event.
Like this reporter, journalists, photojournalists, and video journalists from various media outlets arrived at the scheduled time to cover the event and encountered the same situation. The journalists present expressed frustration, saying that the state minister's schedule could change. However, they said a message in the WhatsApp group informing them of the change would have prevented the inconvenience. Television journalists, in particular, faced greater difficulties because they needed to record video footage.
A reporter from a television channel said, “This has happened before. Sometimes the minister or state minister has arrived before the scheduled time, and sometimes they have not attended the event at all. But these changes are not communicated to members of the media. We expect more responsible conduct from the ministry.”
Asked about the matter, Mahmudul Hasan, public relations officer of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, told Agamir Somoy that he had not been informed about the change in the state minister's schedule. “So I could not inform journalists in the ministry's WhatsApp group either,” he said.
