*********************************************************
Following is the statement by the Co-chairpersons of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Expert Committee, Sir Cyril Chantler and Professor Sian Griffiths, in response to the report of the Legislative Council's Select Committee to inquire into the handling of the SARS outbreak by the Government and the Hospital Authority today (July 6):
We are pleased to learn about the release of the report of the Legislative Council's Select Committee to inquire into the handling of the SARS outbreak by the Government and the Hospital Authority. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Select Committee for having completed a large amount of work within a short period of time.
As Co-Chairs of the Monitoring Committee for the implementation of the recommendations from the report of the expert committee published in October last year, we would like to reiterate our deepest respect for all individuals in Hong Kong's health care sector who were involved in fighting the SARS epidemic. Health care workers in the frontline, managers and health officials all faced a very difficult task in trying to control the unknown disease and they rose to the challenge in a remarkable way.
The passing of time has not lessened our respect for them and we remain impressed by the extraordinary service, hard work, attention to duty and acceptance of responsibility shown by numerous people during the outbreak. We have been particularly moved by the selfless dedication, professionalism and sacrifice of the health care workers.
As SARS was a new and unknown disease, in our review in the Expert Committee, we have made efforts in each instance to put ourselves in the context of what was known and what could have been done at the time. As experts in the field, we understood and appreciated the complexity and difficulty of the tasks for those involved in fighting SARS. Although we have identified shortcomings of system performance during the early phase of the outbreak, we were of the view that many of the actions and decisions taken at the time were commensurate with the knowledge and evidence available at that time. We were impressed that many of the problems were rapidly put right by key health officials, while others were compensated for by the extraordinary hard work of people at all levels of the system and in very difficult circumstances. It was due to such efforts that SARS was eventually brought under control in Hong Kong.
Our Expert Committee has also made numerous recommendations to improve the system in Hong Kong so that it can be better prepared for any future public health emergency. We are pleased to note the remarkable progress that has been made since the release of our report in October 2003. We consider this important because for the rest of the world, Hong Kong's health system represents an important line of defense against the outbreak of new infectious diseases.
We note that the government has set up the Centre for Health Protection as recommended by the Expert Committee and active links have been established with health authorities in Guangdong. Work is also under way on developing information systems and surveillance. We remain impressed by the e-SARS system that was developed during the outbreak and the plans for further development in this area. We are also encouraged by the progress made on improving the isolation facilities and other infection control measures, as well as infectious disease training in the field.
The progress of the large amount of work that has been carried out to enhance the health system in Hong Kong is impressive. We are in no doubt that Hong Kong is better prepared to combat any epidemic than it was one year ago.
We would like to reiterate that, overall, the epidemic in Hong Kong was handled well. The impression has been reinforced by many comments from senior people in home countries of our international panel in the SARS Expert Committee, and this is a view that we have continued to hold.
Ends/Tuesday, July 6, 2004
NNNN
