However, it has also emerged that processing of the compensation cases will only start after the surviving employees have been observed for about 12 months after their discharge from hospital.

Following the outbreak, the Hospital Authority estimated about 100 Sars survivors were suffering from avascular necrosis (AVN), a degenerative bone disease which is caused by the steroids used to treat Sars. It is believed the 12-month waiting time, specified by the Labour Department, is to ensure the doctors and nurses are not also suffering from AVN.

A Labour Department spokeswoman said that last June the Hospital Authority advised employees discharged from hospital that they may have other complications and that they had to undergo a six-month period of observation in case Sars symptoms reappeared.

'They would be fit for assessment of permanent loss of earning capacity only when they had fully recovered from their illness and the residual complications, or when their medical conditions had become stabilised,' she said.

'This department will continue to maintain close liaison with the Hospital Authority and the concerned employees for the purpose of arranging assessments for the concerned employees 12 months after their discharge from hospital, with due regard to the progress of their recovery and the advice of their attending doctors.'

Under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, if an employee had sustained permanent total or partial incapacity, the employer was required to pay compensation in addition to sick leave and related medical expenses, she said.

The spokeswoman said the amount of compensation payable for permanent incapacity was calculated with reference to the Employees' Compensation Board assessment of loss of earning capacity, the worker's age and monthly earnings at the time of the incident.

'According to the ordinance, an employee can recover compensation under the ordinance in respect of Sars, if the disease is a personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of employment,' the spokeswoman said.

It was revealed last month that relatives and survivors of the Sars outbreak were preparing to launch lawsuits seeking compensation from the Hospital Authority, claiming new legal advice had given them hope of success in the courts.

D.K. Srivastava, of the School of Law at City University, had told the Sunday Morning Post that Hong Kong's management of the crisis - which spread principally through the city's hospital system - did not 'score particularly well' compared to other jurisdictions. 'That raises the question of negligence if we look at it from the comparative point of view,' he said.