Health officials get mixed report for handling of Sars
Panel says poor hospital communication worsened the crisis
The government-commissioned report on Sars, to be released today, will 'criticise and praise' key health officials for their performance and touch on the government's accountability system, a member of the expert panel has revealed.
Young Tse-tse, a former pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Hong Kong and former chairwoman of the Medical Council, said yesterday the 11-member panel had taken into account the knowledge health officials had of the new disease at the time of the outbreak.
Its report will offer 46 recommendations on how Hong Kong can better prepare for future outbreaks of infectious disease.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post yesterday, Professor Young said: 'It is always easy to criticise someone in hindsight. But Sars had never happened before and we were all completely unprepared.
'The report may not name names, but it will mention when a person in a specific position has done well or where he has to improve. There will be both praise and criticism. Although Sars was not something we had faced before, we underwent a quick learning curve.'
The Sars outbreak in Hong Kong, which began in early March, infected 1,755 people, of whom 299 died.
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa appointed the expert panel in May to investigate the government's handling of the disaster. The panel was co-chaired by Sir Cyril Chantler and Sian Griffiths. They will present their findings to Mr Tung today and hold a media briefing.
Professor Young said the panel would recommend the government improve its communication skills. 'In the early stages, communication was rather confusing and slow. The media played an important role in disseminating information when Hong Kong people were so panicky. We think very highly of the media,' she said.
The panel also found that during the initial stage of the outbreak, the Hospital Authority and the Department of Health exchanged information on patients and the outbreak by fax only, leading to a lack of 'real-time' communication.
The exchange of information improved only after a computerised system was introduced at the end of March to record basic information about all Sars patients.
The experts were concerned that instructions on infection control at public hospitals, disseminated mostly through the facilities' computer networks, failed to reach junior staff including health-care assistants and ward attendants.
United Christian Hospital health-care assistants Lau Kam-yung and Tang Heung-may, and Prince of Wales Hospital ward attendant Wong Kang-tai, were among the eight health workers who died of Sars.
'Doctors and nurses always use computers, but not the health-care assistants. That group of staff should be better taken care of,' Professor Young said.
Lawmakers and patients' rights groups have questioned the panel's independence and called for a Legco inquiry into the outbreak.
But defending the panel's integrity and independence, Professor Young said the members were not pressured by the government.
