After the SARS outbreak, the Ministry of Health and the health authorities of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau have strengthened exchange and collaboration in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, the Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food said in a joint meeting in Macau today.

He stressed though, that while SARS has been brought under control, we cannot rule out the possibility of its return.

Speaking at the Second Joint Meeting of Senior Health Officials of the Mainland, Hong Kong & Macau, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong added: "From the experiences we have gained, we know we need to strengthen our prevention and control work to better prepare ourselves against SARS and other infectious diseases."

A checklist of measures to combat SARS was issued last month suggestions for improvement are welcome, he added.  

The checklist reflects the Government's three-pronged approach:

* It has put in place comprehensive and cross-community disease preventive measures to guard against the resurgence of the disease;

* It maintains a close and effective disease surveillance system; and

* It has contingency plans to deal with the possible resurgence of SARS at all levels to combat the disease swiftly and responsively.

"We will also take positive steps to implement, as quickly as possible, the 46 recommendations put forward by the SARS Committee which embody a comprehensive range of measures to enhance the preparedness of Hong Kong against SARS," Dr Yeoh said.

A task force will implement the recommendations and make progress reports to the monitoring committee. All urgent tasks to guard against SARS are already in place, he noted.

Hong Kong has also stepped up monitoring of medical regulatory requirements to protect and promote the health of the community. Two consultation documents, "Regulatory control of medical equipment" in July and "Regulatory control of health claims" in September, seek the industry's views.

New tobacco-control measures aim to protect public health while enforcement action has been stepped up to ensure food hygiene.