Within a period of just over six weeks, severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) has consumed Hong Kong, and the resources of the public health-care system have been channelled to fight just one disease.
While this is understandable, and indeed the right thing to do, we cannot afford to ignore the many patients with non-Sars diseases who suffer and die as a result of resource diversion.
We have now in Hong Kong hundreds of public patients with heart conditions and cancer waiting for operations, not to count the many more with less urgent conditions for surgery.
As most anaesthetists, intensivists and nurses are involved with caring for Sars patients, the number of operating sessions has been slashed to a fraction of what it used to be.
If this situation is allowed to continue for any longer, many patients are going to suffer from disease progression or even die while waiting indefinitely for their surgery.
As a sudden increase in workforce in the public health-care system is most unlikely to happen, it is of paramount importance to our patients that we explore ways to quickly get ourselves out of this situation.
It is high time for solidarity and unity of purpose among health-care workers in Hong Kong, in both the public and private sectors. After all, we are in the same boat.