Focusing on issues, not individuals gave a shallow analysis, medical lobby claims Calls for an independent inquiry into the Sars outbreak and the resignation of top officials intensified yesterday. Louis Shih Tai-cho, a representative of the Action Group on Medical Policy, urged the government to launch immediately an independent hearing chaired by a judge to identify any maladministration by officials in the outbreak in which 1,755 people were infected and 299 died. Speaking at yesterday's City Forum, Dr Shih said the expert team made it clear from the beginning that its investigation would target issues instead of individuals. 'Due to these restrictions, the report has avoided pin-pointing individuals. In doing so, it has failed to give the public an in-depth picture of the incident,' Dr Shih said. The report, released on Thursday, found 'significant shortcomings' in the performance of the health system but determined that no one should be blamed. The Legislative Council health services panel will hold a special meeting this morning to discuss the report and how and when the council should launch its own inquiry. Also speaking at the City Forum, legislator and Medical Association president Lo Wing-lok said he was both 'disappointed and outraged' by the behaviour of the officials after the report was released. 'Over the past few days, the government and the organisation [the Hospital Authority] have extensively exercised their public relations machine trying to exonerate themselves,' he said. 'Some officials have made an apology but none has admitted any mistakes.' Without naming Hospital Authority chairman Leong Che-hung, Dr Lo said: 'Someone has tried to challenge the public by claiming the resignation of health officials would not serve the best interests of the community - it sounded like Hong Kong could not [survive] without those people.' Dr Leong said on Thursday that asking officials to resign would do no good to Hong Kong because the city would lose its experience in handling the diseases. But Dr Lo disagreed. 'I would say their resignation would certainly benefit Hong Kong. They [the leadership] have been in the posts for more than 10 years ... we have had enough of them.' Dr Lo insisted that an independent hearing be carried out by the Legislative Council. On Saturday, Dr Leong admitted shortcomings but denied any mistakes in handling the outbreak, while Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong said his resignation might not serve the best interests of Hong Kong.
