********************************************
A delegation of medical professionals led by Director of Health, Dr PY Lam, today (March 25) met their Guangdong counterparts in Guangzhou to discuss infectious diseases.
Both parties exchanged views on the control, surveillance and clinical treatment of infectious diseases including SARS, influenza and AIDS.
Guangdong health officials briefed Hong Kong delegates on the current situation of SARS in the province and on the contingency measures which were recently removed. The delegates expressed their intention to wind down corresponding measures being implemented in the territory.
Both parties agreed that the existing channels of communication and disease information exchange mechanisms between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau were effective in enhancing dissemination of disease information in the three places. Also, scientific collaborations and meetings between Guangdong and Hong Kong medical and health experts had achieved fruitful results.
Hong Kong and Guangdong health officials also exchanged data on disease surveillance for SARS, and reviewed and analysed the four confirmed SARS cases reported in Guangzhou early this year and the corresponding control measures. Due to the high degree of alertness of Mainland health professionals, there was no secondary spread in any of the cases.
The meeting maintained that existing surveillance systems had played a vital role in preventing and controlling infectious diseases.
As the Guangdong Province Health Department has stepped down SARS contingency measures since March 19, the information obtained from the meeting will help Hong Kong health authorities reassess their current SARS control measures which were implemented following the activation of the Alert Level of the SARS emergency response system last December.
Both parties agreed that close co-operation between Guangdong and Hong Kong in the prevention of infectious diseases, including the sharing of experience in workshops on human bird flu control in Guangdong, has ensured the two places are free from human bird flu.
During the visit, Dr PY Lam, on behalf of the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr EK Yeoh, extended an invitation to vice-chairman of the Guangdong Provincial CPPCC Committee and Director-General of Health Department of Guangdong Province, Professor Yao Zhi-bing, to come to Hong Kong later this year to observe the local public health system.
Ends/Thursday, March 25, 2004
NNNN
