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The Government would carefully study the findings and recommendations of the Report of the Legislative Council's Select Committee to inquire into the handling of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) with a view to further enhancing the public health system, the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, said today (July 5).
In response to the Report, Dr Yeoh said as a Principal Official, he would accept the responsibility fully.
He offered his deepest and most sincere apology to the people of Hong Kong, the deceased, family members of the deceased, individuals who were infected and all health care workers for the inadequacies of the health care system in the battle against the unknown and ferocious disease in the early days of the epidemic, and for any misunderstandings that he might have caused in communicating with the public.
He noted many lessons had been learnt in the past year and significant progress had been made in enhancing Hong Kong's healthcare infrastructure and the system capabilities by implementing the recommendations of the SARS Expert Committee.
"It is perhaps not a coincidence that Hong Kong has remained free from SARS and avian influenza this year when our neighbours have been adversely affected," he said.
Dr Yeoh said the SARS epidemic was a very tragic experience for all of the people in Hong Kong, and a very painful experience for those who lost their loved ones.
"We remain deeply saddened by the deaths caused by the outbreak and offer once again our deepest condolences to those who have lost their loved ones and to those who have suffered adversity as a consequence of the disease," he said.
"Everyone involved in fighting the SARS epidemic, ranging from management to frontline staff on the public health and hospital fronts, in both private and public sectors, had worked tirelessly and contributed their very best to meet the challenge within the constraints posed by the unknown nature of the disease and the magnitude and speed of the outbreak.
"They all worked round the clock during the epidemic and did all that was humanly possible, at times beyond reasonable limits, to fight this new and unknown disease. They all had a very difficult task and worked under extremely trying circumstances.
"Inadequacies in our public health care system to deal with an unknown and ferocious outbreak of infectious disease of such scale and magnitude were exposed in the early days of the outbreak.
"With the benefit of retrospective knowledge and hindsight, there were areas of work that could have been done better.
"We have to build a higher dam to stop the unprecedented flood while fighting to contain the deluge.
"I thank them all from the bottom of my heart. I believe all the healthcare workers who have contributed to the fight against SARS deserve the community's recognition for their dedication to duty."
In preparing Hong Kong for the possible reoccurrence of SARS or occurrence of other emerging infectious diseases, the Government has adopted the recommendations of the SARS Expert Committee and undertaken enhancement measures in various aspects of Hong Kong's public health system.
Major areas of enhancement include the setting up of a Centre for Health Protection; the establishment of an overall contingency mechanism; more sophisticated information and data management; enhanced communication and notification mechanisms; strengthened isolation facilities in public hospitals; systematic infection control training; the establishment of a $500 million research fund; and a wide variety of publicity and educational measures to remind the public to stay vigilant and prepared.
Overall, Hong Kong's efforts to control the spread of SARS locally and beyond its borders were recognised by health experts and the international community. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has commended that Hong Kong's efforts to stem the spread of SARS were nothing less than 'heroic'.
Recently, the prestigious Stockholm Challenge Award 2004 bestowed its top award in the Health Category to Hong Kong in recognition of its innovative application of information technology to control the outbreak through the e-SARS system.
Noting that the SARS experience has been a very humbling one, Dr Yeoh said: "I would listen to the views of the LegCo and other sectors in the community and study the views expressed in the Report of the Select Committee carefully.
"I will continue to review the structure and organisation of our public health care system to enhance Hong Kong's capability in preventing and controlling infectious diseases."
Ends/Monday, July 5, 2004
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