Report reaction: At a press conference, four health officials - (from L to R) Director of Health Dr Lam Ping-yan, Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, Hospital Authority Chairman Dr  Leong Che-hung and Hospital Authority Chief Executive Dr William Ho expressed their respect for the Legislative Council Select Committee's report into the handling of last year's SARS outbreak and promised to implement any good recommendations it has to offer.

Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa says the Government has taken the lessons learned from last year's Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak seriously and will continue with its work to prevent and control infectious diseases.

He thanked members of the Legislative Council Select Committee to Inquire into the Handling of the SARS Outbreak after receiving its report today. The Government will carefully study its findings and recommendations, including criticism against officials and staff of the Government and the Hospital Authority and make a response as soon as possible, he said.

The report carried both recognition and criticism regarding the Government's efforts in fighting the disease.

In a statement, Mr Tung noted that the Government has fully cooperated with the committee over the past eight months, providing detailed information about the outbreak's handling. A number of senior officials appeared before the committee's open hearings and the Chief Executive also provided information in person to committee members.

Expert Committee recommendations adopted

The SARS Expert Committee that he appointed last year had already conducted a comprehensive and professional review and made a number of recommendations addressing the inadequacies of the healthcare system in handling large-scale outbreaks of infectious diseases, he noted.

Many of these recommendations have already been implemented and the Government is putting the remaining ones in place.

Mr Tung also expressed his appreciation of healthcare staff from the private and public sectors who "gave their best and worked selflessly to combat the unknown disease under extremely trying circumstances."

He again extended his deepest condolences to the bereaved and persons affected by the disease.

He also expressed his hope that the Administration, the Legislative Council and the community would continue to work hand in hand in the fight against infectious diseases and to further improve Hong Kong's healthcare system.

LegCo report highlights need for change

The Select Committee's report noted "there are serious lessons to be learned from the calamity".

"The epidemic has highlighted the need for improvement to the territory's public health system and environmental hygiene. It has also highlighted the need for more vigilant and effective disease surveillance and notification as well as a high level of preparedness to deal with outbreaks of unknown infectious diseases," it states.

On a positive note, the report also states that the epidemic underlined healthcare workers' key strengths, "in particular, their professionalism, great sense of responsibility and full commitment".

"Hong Kong is fully indebted to all healthcare workers who worked extremely hard and were fearless in the battle against SARS. They risked their own lives gallantly in trying to save others. The Select Committee commends all healthcare workers.

Hong Kong people win high praise

"The Select Committee also compliments all those in the Government, Hospital Authority, the universities and other organisations concerned who made their best endeavours in the management of the epidemic.

"Last but not least, the epidemic also highlighted some of the best qualities of the people in Hong Kong. During the three months of the SARS epidemic, the community showed courage, compassion and solidarity and everyone contributed in his or her own way."

Chief Executive 'right' in putting health before economy

The Select Committee's report recognises the Chief Executive's concern about the SARS outbreak, and his readiness to consider drastic measures to control its spread.

"He was the first person to raise in the Chief Executive's Steering Committee whether it was necessary to quarantine family members of infected persons, and he instructed that more information be obtained from experts and from Singapore before decisions were made in that regard," it states.

"The Chief Executive directed that containing and controlling the spread of the disease should be the Government's top priority. The Chief Executive also directed that the Government's actions in handling the outbreak should err, if at all, on the safe side, and that it should be prepared for the worst case scenario.

"The Select Committee notes that it was only at the later stage when the epidemic was subsiding that the Government began to focus its attention on the economy which was dealt a heavy blow by the SARS epidemic. The Select Committee considers that the Government was right in putting public health before the economy."

Officials apologise, praise healthcare workers

Four senior Government officials, including Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, addressed the media after the report was released this afternoon.

"I offer my deepest and most sincere apology to the people of Hong Kong, to the deceased and their family members, to individuals who became infected and to all healthcare workers for the inadequacies of the healthcare system that were exposed during the early days of the outbreak, and for any misunderstandings that I might have caused in communicating with the public," Dr Yeoh said.

"We accept that, with the benefit of hindsight, certain things could have been done better, especially in the early days of the outbreak," he added.

"However, I also wish to point out that SARS was a new disease about which the world initially knew little."

Dr Yeoh stands by his commitments

As a Principal Official, Dr Yeoh said he accepts fully the responsibility "for the inadequacies of our healthcare system in the battle against this unknown and ferocious disease in the early days of the epidemic."

He reminded the media of three commitments he had made in the wake of the SARS Expert Committee's recommendations last October. At the time, Dr Yeoh pledged that he would:

* assimilate the lessons learned from SARS;

* do all he could to improve the healthcare system to protect public health; and

* make sure that the public health system is fully prepared to tackle SARS and other infectious diseases of such scale and magnitude.

Most of the committee's recommendations have since been implemented, and have won praise globally. They also helped protect Hong Kong from possible SARS and avian flu attacks this year, he noted.

In conclusion, Dr Yeoh said: "I pledge to continue to commit myself fully to my duties. I will listen to the views of the Legislative Council and other sectors of the community and study carefully the views expressed in the Report of the Select Committee. I will continue to review the structure and organisation of our public healthcare system to enhance Hong Kong's capability to prevent and control infectious diseases and epidemics."

Communication with Mainland enhanced

In his statement, Director of Health Dr Lam Ping-yan noted some positive changes since the outbreak.

"The momentum in fostering closer collaboration between the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority continues, and proactive discussions with the Mainland health authorities have led to stronger liaison and strengthened information flow on infectious diseases in the Pearl River Delta region," he said. 

In a question-and-answer session, Dr Lam defended his predecessor, former health director Dr Margaret Chan. He noted that she tried her best to work with frontline staff to fight SARS and praised her hard work in communicating with the public on a daily basis.

Hospital Authority Chairman Dr Leong Che-hung defended his body's decision to concentrate SARS patients at Princess Margaret Hospital, which already had in place an infectious disease ward.

"The authority was of the view that having a SARS hospital was a good idea," he said, adding that had they not done this, the outbreak might have been even more serious.

Report's recommendations to be implemented

Hospital Authority Chief Executive Dr William Ho apologised for a breakdown in communications between the authority's frontline staff and management, and promised to improve the system.

All the officials noted that they needed time to study the report, but stressed they were keen to implement any recommendations.

"We respect the report and we would like to look ahead," Dr Leong said. "If there are good recommendations we will definitely take them on board."