Intensive care units can cope with the demand, insists authority chief, as virus claims five more lives and another estate is gripped by panic
Special infectious disease hospitals should be set up to treat atypical pneumonia patients, the dean of a medical school proposed yesterday.
But the idea was immediately dismissed by the head of the Hospital Authority, as Hong Kong suffered five Sars deaths, the highest yet in one day, and infections at another housing estate led to fears of a repeat of the panic seen at Amoy Gardens and Telford Gardens.
The idea of setting up infectious disease centres was made by the dean of Chinese University's faculty of medicine, Sydney Chung Sheung-chee, who said one option was to use public sanatoriums for Sars patients. He said this would help to relieve over-stretched hospitals and ease the pressure on the intensive care units of public hospitals as the outbreak enters its sixth week.
Professor Chung said patients in the early stages of Sars with only minor symptoms could be kept in isolation instead of being given in-patient hospital care. And those recovering could be transferred to sanatoriums instead of sending them back to the community, thereby reducing the risk of spreading the virus.
Professor Chung said the supply of hospital beds and intensive care services had reached breaking point, with intensive care services mainly being used by Sars patients.