A POST which appeared on the Ministry of Public Health’s Facebook page regarding religious beliefs, was unfortunately placed there.

This is according to Minister of Public Health , Volda Lawrence, who told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the post, which centres on the ministry’s declarations, was placed externally on the ministry’s Facebook page without an explanation.

Noting that it should have never occurred, she explained that as usual, over the last two years, the ministry, as part of its programme, held its annual Sunrise Service for members of staff, although she noted it was not compulsory in terms of attendence.

She said that persons from various departments and religious background at the ministry attended the event and at the service, the pastor made declarations and persons asked that they be shared with them.

Lawrence said the declarations should not have been placed externally without an explanation, noting that it appeared as if it was based on the policy of the ministry.
She said the department responsible for the blunder should have shared the request by staff of the declarations, internally.

Lawrence went on to explain that the ministry realized that the agency is diverse and that there is a lack of education of the beliefs of persons and, as such, over the past two years, various programmes, such as Diwali, Phagwah, Youman-Nabi, among others , have had various interactions. She said the objective of such interactions and programmes was to foster tolerance and understanding of each other. ”I can tell you that it has been working,” she told the DPI.

She said it is unfortunate that persons made various statements based on their own belief after the post was made public. She said it goes counter to what the ministry set out to do. ”What we set out to do is to bring harmony, to bring understanding, to bring care, to bring tolerance into our working environment”, she said, noting persons on staff would better understand the beliefs of each other.

Lawrence requested persons to assist in that process noting that the publication is not a policy or statement by the ministry.