Hospital Authority accused of neglect by Sars survivors
Many suffer from a bone disease and say their health complaints are being ignored
The struggle for health has not ended for many Sars survivors, who may now suffer a debilitating bone disease and feel neglected by the health-care system.
The Hospital Authority estimates that about 100 Sars survivors suffer from avascular necrosis, caused by the steroids used to treat Sars. Many face the prospect of spending the rest of their lives in wheelchairs.
The Sars outbreak infected 1,755 people in Hong Kong and killed 299.
Avascular necrosis (AVN) is a rare disease caused when blood stops flowing to bones, and leads to the degeneration and collapse of bone tissue. Severe cases of AVN cause immobility and require treatment with bone grafts or joint replacements.
Some patients recovering from Sars have complained to the South China Morning Post that the Hospital Authority has ignored them since they were discharged from hospital. One public hospital nurse, diagnosed with AVN in August, said she was given a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan only after requesting it repeatedly over three months and complaining about bone problems.
Another woman said she waited for months for a check-up after complaining about bone aches.
Because of such problems, more than 40 patients have organised a support group to fight for better follow-up care at public hospitals. They have criticised the Hospital Authority for not having a standard programme of treatment for these patients.
Tim Pang Hung-cheong, a spokesman for the Patients Rights Association - which has helped organise the new body - said the group would hold its first meeting tomorrow night.
The Sars expert committee appointed by the government has called for better rehabilitation and follow-up care for patients recovering from Sars. The Hospital Authority earlier promised to provide MRI scans for all recovered Sars patients to check if they suffered from AVN.
Mr Pang said: 'The government and the Hospital Authority performed poorly during the Sars outbreak. They should be responsible for taking care of patients suffering from the side effects of their treatment.'
He said the government should also take care of those who were misdiagnosed and mistakenly treated for Sars.
'Those people also took the same drugs and [may] suffer from the same bone problems. They should not be ignored.'
An authority spokesman yesterday said that patients were treated if they showed clinical symptoms of Sars, and therefore 'there could not be a misdiagnosis'.
'[The authority] is committed to providing appropriate medical, rehabilitative and psychosocial support,' the spokesman added.
Joseph Sung Jao-yiu, head of the Chinese University's department of medicine and therapeutics, said AVN could be caused in some patients by the Sars infection itself, instead of the steroid treatment.
Professor Sung said postmortem examinations of Sars victims in Singapore showed blood clots had formed in some blood vessels, which 'could be the cause of AVN'.
He said AVN was a known complication of steroid treatment and was not directly related to dosage.
'Some patients on low doses of steroids may also develop such complications. During the outbreak, our priority was to save lives. Had we not used steroids, some patients [who are now alive] would have died.'
