Health authorities regarded private hospitals as an 'unwanted problem', according to an inquiry into the Baptist outbreak
A retired judge investigating April's Sars outbreak at the private Baptist Hospital yesterday delivered a strong rebuke to health authorities, accusing them of leaving private hospitals to fend for themselves during the crisis.
Benjamin Liu Tze-ming's independent commission of inquiry, appointed by Baptist Hospital on June 17, concluded in its report: 'Private hospitals seemed to have been regarded as an extra, unwanted problem the Department of Health and Hospital Authority did not need, and were merely to be monitored for compliance [with regulations].'
Mr Liu's report added that in any future outbreak, the department and the authority 'should best be made accountable to and responsible for not only all [public hospitals] but for the rest of the public, including private patients'.
The inquiry was triggered in June after then director of health Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun criticised the hospital for being slow to report 'probable and suspected [Sars] cases'.
The Baptist report said that in a future crisis, the department and the Hospital Authority would benefit by regarding private hospitals as 'partners ... offering them assistance' on drugs and diagnostic tests, for example.
