I am accountable to the chief executive, says Yeoh Eng-kiong
Hong Kong's health chief defended his appointment yesterday as head of a committee investigating the government's handling of the Sars outbreak, saying Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa could ask for his resignation if he so wished.
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong was commenting after Mr Tung appointed a nine-member panel of non-government experts to investigate the crisis and prepare defences against a recurrence of Sars.
Rejecting calls for his resignation, Dr Yeoh said that under the accountability system, his performance was constantly assessed by the chief executive.
'People died of Sars. We are all sad and we feel the responsibility,' he said. But 'if the chief executive finds me at fault, there are procedures in place whereby he can ask me to resign or decide on other punishment'.
'It is the chief executive's decision, not mine,' he said.
