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Sars patients to sue
26/05/2003 08:10 - (SA)
Beijing - Hospitals in the Chinese capital are facing legal action from Sars patients who claim they became infected with the virus after entering medical facilities, state press reported on Monday.
According to the China Daily, both health authorities and hospitals are likely to face a rising number of prosecutions over the sharp infection rate in Beijing hospitals.
The Beijing Xicheng District Health Bureau said it has received at least a dozen complaints against hospitals so far.
"Some Sars patients, who were infected in hospitals due to lack of sufficient isolation measures, and their family members have begun to prepare to prosecute for faulty medical treatment," said Liu Jinsong, an official in charge of medical administration at the bureau.
The World Health Organisation has blamed the rapid outbreak of Sars in Beijing, the worst hit city in the world, on underprepared hospitals, which made them a breeding ground for the disease.
Fever clinics - areas in hospitals where patients with fever, a symptom of Sars, are first diagnosed - grouped ordinary patients seeking treatment for flu or other respiratory diseases with Sars cases during a chaotic and often confusing period in the early stages of the outbreak, the WHO has said.
Although legal proceedings are under way by individuals, Beijing authorities said they would not take action against hospitals where cross-infection occurred in March and early April, before the government admitted covering up the scale of the crisis.
"Such hospitals should not ascertain judicial responsibility as the epidemic was not fully known at that time," Zhao Xiaojun, an official with the Beijing People's Procuratorate was quoted as saying by the China Daily.
Critics, however, argue that there is no excuse as Sars had struck the southern province of Guangdong several months before Beijing began alerting hospitals.
It was not clear whether officials who did know the scale of the problem but who covered it up would be held responsible.
The Beijing People's Procuratorate issued a notice last week saying that governments and officials who supress information about Sars will be prosecuted, but it did not clarify if this included officials already sacked, such as former Beijing mayor Meng Xuenong.
"It's too early to tell," Zhao told the paper. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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