The policy bureau responsible for setting up a high-profile team of international experts to investigate the government's handling of the Sars outbreak cannot say when they will arrive.
Nor has it allocated a budget for the team of seven overseas and two local experts. The international experts will have to publish their findings by September and also make recommendations on how to prevent a possible reoccurrence of the virus in the winter.
The Sars Experts Committee, to be headed by the bureau's secretary, Yeoh Eng-kiong, will investigate how the government and the Hospital Authority managed and controlled the outbreak.
'They are very busy. We can't give anything concrete about their itineraries because we don't know when they are coming,' a spokeswoman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said.
The late start has prompted legislator Lo Wing-lok, who is the president of the Medical Association, to predict that the whole exercise is likely to be a waste of time and money.
The first meeting of the experts is supposed to take place later this month, but the bureau spokeswoman said this would more than likely be conducted through video-conferencing.
She said there were no exact figures on the size of the budget for the committee, though honoraria would be given to the experts.