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Public health ministers from across the region meeting in Malaysian new city of Putrajaya have thrown their weight behind Thai efforts to control the threat of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), endorsing Thailand's suggested containment measures and urging Thailand to establish a regional control network.
The meeting marked the first regional effort to combat the disease that has caused fear to sweep across the region, bringing together the first time health ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), together with their counterparts from China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, the Thai News Agency (TNA) said Sunday.
Highlighting the gravity of the situation by noting that SARS was a disease that could not yet be controlled, Malaysia's health minister told TNA reporter after the meeting that the ministers expressed support for each country's health ministries in their fight against SARS, urging them to strictly follow World Health Organization (WHO) containment measures.
Thailand, which has campaigned for stringent regulations to stop the spread of SARS, was delegated with the tasks of coordinating training for epidemiologists and creating a regional SARS control network, while Indonesia was asked to set up a regional SARS website and Malaysia to create a regional SARS operation room.
The ministers, whose advice will be forwarded to the ASEAN SARS Summit which will be hosted by Bangkok on April 29 and will bring together the prime ministers of the 10-member grouping, approved measures to inspect passengers for SARS at their point of departure, while stressing that inspection upon arrival would be at the discretion of individual nations.
(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2003)
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