The novel coronavirus pandemic calls for exemplary public communication: governments must use simple, clear language to keep citizens infor...
The novel coronavirus pandemic calls for exemplary public communication: governments must use simple, clear language to keep citizens informed about the risks they face, the actions they must take to protect themselves, the decisions it is making to keep them secure, as well as respond to their concerns and questions.
The Indian government has done badly on this front – most evident in the way it triggered panic-buying and a migrant exodus by announcing a 21-day lockdown abruptly, without telling people how it planned to sustain food supplies.
Another clear example of poor communication is the continuing confusion over coronavirus testing kits.
Last week, a private company Bione announced it had created a self-testing kit that allows users to do a finger-prick test at home to detect if they were infected with the virus. By the time the drug and diagnostics regulator clarified on Sunday that it had not approved this kit, the company had already sold its first batch.
This isn’t simply the case of a company’s violations escaping the eye of the regulator – the regulator itself created the ground for such commercial deceit by not releasing the list of licensed kits in the public domain.
On March 26, the Drug Controller General of India, VG Somani, told...Read more
