Representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) have
praised the Hong Kong government's clinical management practices
against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) Saturday,
describing its practices as exemplary.
One representative has also openly acknowledged the benefit of
using Chinese medicine for treating SARS.
The first remarks came from two WHO representatives Mark Salter and
Mike Ryan during a press conference after attending the two-day
SARS Clinical Management Workshop with more than 120 medical
experts from around the world to share clinical experience on
combating SARS.
"I
think probably the first line in the most effective modalities
we've seen in controlling SARS around the globe has been the rapid
implementation of appropriate infection control measures. We've
seen that come to the fore very much in Hong Kong as soon as people
became aware that SARS is a new deadly disease, such that in the
intervening few weeks, we have seen the number of cases occurring
in Hong Kong rapidly decline.
"Such as in the last few days, we haven't seen any more new
cases.... So I think that is exemplary," said Salter.
He
also praised the Hong Kong government's installation of facilities
at the Hong Kong International Airport to screen for the abnormally
high bodily temperatures of passengers, airport's staff and members
of air crews, saying that such are also exemplary.
"We've expressed our delight saying to the secretary (the Hong Kong
government's Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food E. K. Yeoh),
and how this should be really disseminated to other countries in
the world, who can then also put in such systems to reduce the risk
of having problems of SARS in future," he said.
Mike Ryan, another WHO representative who have attended the
workshop, also remarked positively, praising the Hong Kong
government for already taking swift steps to control the spread the
disease at a time when the world was still unaware of the
seriousness of the disease.
"The transparency the Hong Kong authority, in terms of sharing
information with WHO and the rapidity of the screening at the
airport and the inter-sectoral collaboration between the public
health [sic], the clinical management and the police to follow up
on the contact tracing is taken for granted, but extremely
difficult to put in place.
"I
think you have to judge the response on the basis of the capacity
of the system, as it responded to this outbreak, and that also
explains the way Hong Kong, Toronto and other places have managed
this outbreak on behalf of the world's population. This is a global
phenomenon. This outbreak had the potential of spreading
globally....
"So the world expresses their gratitude to Hong Kong and a number
of cities who manage to do it on behalf of the world's population,"
Ryan said.
Meanwhile, on the Chinese mainland's using combined Chinese and
western medicine treatments for SARS at predominantly Chinese
mainland hospitals, Salter said he is sure that Chinese medicine
carries "significant benefits", and the international community
continues to closely examine the benefits of Chinese medicine.
"I
am sure that there are significant benefits. I know that there are
a number of international establishments around the world which are
examining very closely the benefits of Chinese medicines, and I am
sure that in the future, we will see them being used as
complementary therapies to western medicine more widely," he
said.
(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2003)