Executive Vice-Minister of Health Gao Qiang said in Beijing Sunday
the difficulties in diagnosing SARS, a disease never known to
mankind so far, partly explained why the latest figure of SARS
cases in Beijing was far bigger than that released several days
ago.
Gao said at a press conference that SARS was a sudden and severe
disaster. "It takes time from receiving the patients to confirming
SARS cases," he said, adding that after a period of diagnosis and
treatment, some of the suspected cases with obvious symptoms were
confirmed to be SARS patients, thus increasing the total number of
SARS cases.
A
lack of effective communication and information exchanges among
hospitals in Beijing was another major reason, the official
said.
The patients were located in more than 70 Beijing hospitals
belonging to different departments, therefore, it was difficult for
the city health authority to have accurate and comprehensive
statistics on SARS cases in the city.
According to Gao, there are 175 hospitals of second grade or higher
in Beijing. Among them, 131 are at municipal, district and county
levels, 14 belonging to the Ministry of Health and Ministry of
Education, 16 run by the military and armed forces and 14 belonging
to various industries.
Gao said the fact that the Ministry of Health had not been well
prepared for public health emergencies and the epidemic control
system was comparatively weak also contributed to the sharp rise of
SARS cases in Beijing.
When the SARS disease emerged, the ministry failed to formulate
timely a unified system for collecting and reporting information
about the epidemic situation across the country.
The ministry did not have a clear requirement to local health
authorities on information collecting and reporting, nor gave them
effective directions, the official said.
He
said that Beijing Municipality had made great efforts and medical
workers in the city had done their best to treat patients. However,
as related departments did not have an effective mechanism in
providing information, statistics and monitoring reports and
carrying out follow-up investigations, they failed to have correct
figures of SARS cases and report them to higher authorities.
"We must draw lessons in an earnest way from the failures and make
improvements," Gao said.
He
said the monitoring team dispatched by the State Council to Beijing
on April 15 had worked together with the Beijing municipal
government and related departments of the central government. They
went to hospitals in Beijing one after another to check the number
of SARS cases and register patients.
A
week's hard work had resulted in the verified number of SARS
patients, including those from other provinces, who were being
treated in hospitals in Beijing, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 20, 2003)