The Hong Kong administration is clearly overwhelmed. The Sars outbreak is demanding its total attention and stretching its capacities. The usefulness of the economic rescue package will be minimal, particularly if Hong Kong cannot get the disease under control and the government cannot reassure people that it knows how to prevent future outbreaks.
The central government's more aggressive handling of the Sars outbreak on the mainland has put Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa in a bind. By firing the health minister and the mayor of Beijing, China's new leaders sent the message that officials must take responsibility for failures and oversights. Moreover, in keeping his job, the ex-mayor's boss, Liu Qi, who is the party official in charge of the capital and a Politburo member, had to deliver a public mea culpa, acknowledging his own failure to keep the people informed about the spread of the disease.
The central government's tough, high-profile actions were necessary to win back a measure of trust, particularly from the international community. In the eyes of the world, it was the mainland's initial denial of the seriousness of Sars that prevented better control of the outbreak.
Hong Kong is also seen to have contributed to the worldwide spread of Sars. Our health officials missed what was happening in Guangdong in the early stages of the outbreak, which is why they did not have a better-planned control programme in place sooner. Furthermore, once the early cases appeared in Hong Kong, the containment efforts in some hospitals were inadequate, resulting in a high number of staff being affected. They, in turned, infected other people outside the hospitals. The cycle came back to haunt them, since those who became ill sought medical care, leading to severe pressure on the hospitals.
The Hong Kong administration must urgently address why infection rates among staff in some hospitals have been so high. Decision-makers must understand why some hospitals have had higher staff infection rates than others. The answer may lie less with the virulence of the disease and more with management decisions taken to ensure preparedness.
The more aggressive moves of the central government have also highlighted Hong Kong's governance deficit. Mr Tung clearly does not want to think about axing ministers, even when the choice is blindingly obvious. If he had a better grasp of what political accountability means, Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung would have left in March after 'Lexus-gate'. He compromised his position, raising suspicions that he tried to avoid paying a new, higher tax on the purchase of a car.
