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SARS inquiry to focus on 3 areas of accountability
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| 日期:
2003-12-30 16:12
编辑:
system
来源：
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The Legislative Council Select Committee has determined three major areas of study into the accountability aspects of the outbreak of the SARS epidemic.
At the first meeting yesterday, the select committee fixed dates for the forthcoming meetings. After obtaining and analyzing relevant documents, it will begin summoning witnesses to give evidence in January 2004.
The first major area of study will begin with the communication machinery between Hong Kong and Guangdong Province at the early stage of the outbreak, and involve the Metropole Hotel and Kwong Wah Hospital.
The second area will focus on the outbreak at Prince of Wales Hospital, stretching to Tai Po Hospital and Nethersole Hospital.
As for the last area, it will deal with the massive outbreak at Amoy Gardens, the United Christian Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital and Tuen Mun Hospital.
In between the three areas, incidents regarding management, decision-making, as well as protection measures and gears will be examined.
Committee member Lo Wing-lok, from the medical constituency, said it was the closure of the Prince of Wales emergency ward that prompted transfer of patients to the Tai Po and Nethersole hospitals. Similarly, when SARS was detected at Princess Margaret, patients were relocated to Tai Po Hospital.
"They are inter-related incidents involving the same decision-makers. It would help the inquiry and ascertain the accountability if the three hospitals are studied," Lo said.
Fellow member Chan Yuen-han agreed.
She blamed the decision to transfer SARS patients to the Tai Po and Nethersole hospitals as a rash one because these are only ordinary hospitals not prepared for handling SARS patients.
The committee decided to hold four-hour meetings on Tuesday and Saturday mornings, with some of them being "closed" to discuss who will be summoned and the questions to be asked.
Extra meetings will be held on Tuesday afternoons starting from February.
Instead of late November, the evidence sessions will now be deferred to January.
"Previous experience tells us that the better we prepare for the inquiry by obtaining and analyzing the documents, the more smooth the inquiry will be," Committee Chairman Law Chi-kwong said after the meeting.
"As a few witnesses are not in Hong Kong and they may be required to give evidence for more than one incident, we must prepare the schedule well without subjecting them to return to Hong Kong on different days," he explained. |
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