SCI/TECH: HK Health Chief Resigns Over SARS, page 1

Hong Kong's Health Secretary Yeoh Eng-Kiong has resigned over the SARS crisis today, Tung Chee-Hwa announced.

www.britishairways.com
He was accused of paying too little attention to Sars when it appeared in mainland China, and issuing misleading public statements.

Sars killed 299 people in Hong Kong between March and June 2003.

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The Health Secretary has drastically improved emergy responses to SARS situations for future purposes, but, in my opinion, there is no point. I will be flying to Hong Kong in the next week or two, and upon arrival, the first thing I will have to fill out is a landing card,;
'Have you been in contact with anyone who has SARS in the last 10 days?
[]Yes []No'

It seems the reaction is so anti-SARS that in fact, Hong Kong is only really capable of combating SARS anymore. But the problem is, no one has had SARS-like symptons outside of China (who had two cases a few months ago) since the outbreak last year. They're trying to fend off a dead enemy, and in doing so, are wasting a lot of public money. I'm not saying SARS will never come back, I'm just saying we'd be better off spending the money on a more general screening.
Everytime I have looked at the SARS forms on my flights in and out of Hong Kong over the past year, I fill in, "How many people have had SARS in the last 10 days?"

[edit on 7-7-2004 by Banshee]