Questioning of government officials will be delayed until January in the latest Sars inquiry, the Legco select committee's first meeting was told yesterday.
Members will use the extra time to collect all relevant information in preparation for the interviews.
The committee said it would start a probe into the notification system for infectious diseases, between Hong Kong and the mainland, in the outbreak's early stages.
It will be the first of three main areas to be investigated in the third Sars inquiry. The deadline for reporting to Legco is July.
Under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance, the select committee can order anyone, including the chief executive, to give evidence.
Former director of health Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, who is now a World Health Organisation director in Geneva, would be called to give evidence, committee chairman Law Chi-kwong said. But he said the committee had yet to decide whether to summon Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa to give evidence.
At the 11-member select committee's first meeting, it was agreed to conduct the investigation in three stages, with the scope of finding government and Hospital Authority officials to be held accountable for the outbreak that killed 299 Hong Kong people.
