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A task force is implementing the recommendations of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) Expert Committee Report, the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, told legislators at a subcommittee meeting of the Legislative Council Panel on Health Services today (November 3).
Speaking at the meeting of the Subcommittee to monitor the implementation of the recommendations of the SARS Expert Committee and the Hospital Authority Review Panel on the SARS Outbreak, Dr Yeoh said the task force, chaired by himself and comprising members from the top echelons of the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau (HWFB), Department of Health (DH) and Hospital Authority (HA), had been set up after the release of the report by the SARS Expert Committee to study and decide on the best way forward for the 46 recommendations.
The task force met bi-weekly to review the progress made and co-ordinate with government bureaux/departments, HA, the academic and research community, relevant non-government organisations and the private healthcare sector in implementing the recommendations, he said.
Reporting on the progress of implementation, Deputy Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Mr Thomas Yiu, said the organisational structure and the relationship between HWFB and its constituent departments were being looked at with a view to improving co-ordination and communication.
He said an overall government emergency response mechanism as outlined in the "Checklist of Measures to Combat SARS" had been put in place, providing a clear command structure for making strategic decisions and setting out the roles and responsibilities for various emergency situations.
Mr Yiu also noted HA and DH had put in place their own subsector contingency plans. Both parties had collaborated in two SARS drills last month and would carry out further practice exercises.
Meanwhile, Mr Yiu said all private hospitals had been requested to submit their SARS contingency plans to DH, which would form part of the overall emergency response mechanism.
On the setting up of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP), Mr Yiu told legislators that an initial framework of the centre was being mapped out. He said an advisory committee comprising academics and medical professionals had been set up to advise on the various matters relating to the setting up of the structure. The advisory committee would hold its first meeting this month and discuss the proposed framework of the centre.
In connection with the setting of the CHP, DH had started recruiting overseas epidemiologists and virologists to help design training programmes and provide field epidemiology and microbiology training.
Noting public concern over the ability of the public health system in dealing with a possible return of SARS, Mr Yiu assured legislators that the capacity and preparedness of public hospitals had been greatly enhanced.
He informed legislators that the majority of the 900 isolation beds had been completed and the remaining 600 would be completed in batches between November 2003 and January 2004.
Funding approval would be sought from the Legislative Council Finance Committee on the construction of three infectious disease blocks in three major public acute hospitals, he added.
Mr Yiu also said HA had stocked up on three months' (at peak usage rate) of personal protection equipment for healthcare staff to cater for a possible return of SARS, adding that HA had established a close monitoring and liaison mechanism with suppliers in case there was a sudden surge in demand.
(For further details of the progress on the implementation of the recommendations of the SARS Expert Committee, please see Annex.)
Also present at today's subcommittee meeting were Director of Health, Dr Lam Ping-yan and HA's Chief Executive, Dr William Ho.
Ends/Monday, November 3, 2003
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