THE Health Ministry’s new data sets on the status of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia can confuse the public, said the National Union of Bank Employees.

Its secretary-general, J. Solomon suggested that the ministry either use a uniform method, as used by the Special Committee For Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV), or return to the method used by the ministry before.

“A NUBE study found that there are three or four pieces of data available each day,” he said in a press statement.

“The first is statistics released through the latest CovidNow portal, usually appears by noon each day (based on data at 11.59 midnight the previous day), while the second post by Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah is released through his social media, and then there is another statement by Ministry of Health media in the afternoon every day (based on data as of 12 noon),” he said.

Solomon said whatever form of data or statistics used should be consistent to enable each data user to obtain only accurate information and not confuse anyone, especially the media who always strive to provide the latest information to the public.

“We sometimes accept old figures brought forward or ‘backlogs cases’, rather than based on midnight or noon details,” he said.

He said this confuses the people in that it raises the question of whether the figures given are sometimes credible or acceptable.

“Malaysia has allocated large funds for the development of information technology for the purpose of collecting data,” he said.

He said the union hopes that the government would not compromise on transparency and consistency in its administration.

“The past government compromised in terms of transparency as well core trust,” he added.

In this regard, Solomon said the Health Ministry must choose a consistent and uniform method, regardless of when the reporting deadline is.

“NUBE is not sure whether the Health Ministry is currently in the process of streamlining daily data reporting methods.

“Nevertheless, NUBE hopes that the Health Ministry will review the current reporting methods to make it easier for the public to obtain the latest information and avoid negative perceptions about the current daily reporting process.” – September 16, 2021.