Sars was like facing a war, says health boss
Princess Margaret Hospital was not 100 per cent ready for battle, the Hospital Authority chairman admits
Princess Margaret Hospital was not fully prepared to take care of hundreds of patients during last year's Sars outbreak, the Hospital Authority chairman told the Legco inquiry yesterday.
The inquiry heard that after the hospital was designated to treat Sars victims, it admitted 744 patients with the disease from March 29 to April 11. Patients also had to be sent to other hospitals in New Territories East.
Hospital Authority chairman Leong Che-hung said: 'Sars was a war and this war did not allow the authority and the hospital more time to be 100 per cent prepared.
'The plan was to admit Sars patients in phases but an unexpectedly large number of patients, some from Amoy Gardens, had to be admitted over an unexpectedly short period.'
But Dr Leong denied that the authority had acted too slowly to strengthen infection control measures among frontline workers.
The Hospital Authority board did not address the issue until April 22, two months after Guangdong health authorities confirmed a Sars outbreak in February.
'I don't agree it was a delay,' Dr Leong said. 'The fact that I had not discussed it with board members does not mean I had not done anything.
'Every Monday, I talked about risk management with the top executives.'
Dr Leong said he proposed to the board on April 26 the setting up of a taskforce dedicated to monitoring how much protective equipment was needed.
'I thought board members should do something to boost morale and to listen to frontline workers' needs directly,' he said.
While admitting that many board members were lay people rather than medical professionals, he said they had helped to find new sources of protective materials.
Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao Sau-tung told yesterday's hearing that the government had discussed the issue several times before it decided to isolate Sars patients.
'When we discussed it for the first time, most ministers were against it. Some worried that quarantine measures would bring about public fear,' she said.
She also said the government never rejected the opinion of epidemiologist Stephen Ng Kam-cheung, who argued that rats had played a role in transmitting Sars at Amoy Gardens. 'He could not distinguish between rats running in pipes and rats running on the ground. He is also unfamiliar with the environment of Amoy Gardens,' she said.
Dr Ng had earlier criticised the government for failing to conduct in-depth research on rats.
