If only someone listened
2003-06-02 21:02
Toronto - A provincial nurses' group said on Monday their warnings could have minimised a second outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in the Toronto area, where 31 Sars-linked deaths have occurred.
"In relation to the Sars outbreak, nurses feel like canaries in the mineshaft and still no one is listening," Adeline Falk-Rafael, president of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, told AFP.
Canada is the only country outside Asia to report any Sars-related deaths. While there are two suspected Sars cases in the westernmost province of British Columbia, most of the country's SARS cases have been centered around Toronto.
In late April, health officials believed Toronto's first Sars outbreak, dating back to March, was under control, with cases dwindling to single digits.
But one undetected case slipped under their radar, triggering a second wave of Sars patients. Officials announced on May 22 they may have another cluster of Sars cases on their hands.
Nurses, Falk-Rafael said, sounded the alarm bells in mid-May about a cluster of five people in the same family who had come down with flu-like illnesses and had turned to North York General Hospital.
Could have been minimised
"From the information we have, this (second outbreak) could have been minimised," she said. The group is now calling for an independent probe into how officials handled the Sars crisis.
She said 20 nurses out of more than 480 health care workers in quarantine were now infected with Sars due to the latest outbreak. Hospital officials had dismissed nurses' concerns and had told them not to wear masks, she said.
Ontario's Ministry of Health spokesperson John Letherby, who declined to say whether a public inquiry would be considered, encouraged any health care workers to come forward if they "feel public health is not being addressed".
The second outbreak has been traced back to a 96-year-old man, who had somehow contracted Sars in a ward of North York General Hospital where no known Sars patient was located.
His Sars diagnosis went undetected for weeks even after his death May 1, spreading the illness to nurses who unwittingly gave it to other patients, visitors and their own families.
While some officials have pointed to the relaxation of preventive measures - such as the wearing of gloves, masks and gowns - as the possible cause of the slip-up, a few nursing groups said authorities failed to listen to their members' warnings.
Expert panel
The provincial ministry plans to include nurses in an expert panel that will look at the handling of the Sars crisis. However, Falk-Rafael said it would likely be too narrow and not transparent enough.
Meanwhile, Toronto health officials were preparing on Monday to centralise Sars care by moving patients and directing all new possible cases to four area hospitals this week.
The Toronto Star reported that some of the facilities still did not meet minimum requirements, such as having negative-pressure rooms, to handle Sars patients.
The flu-like illness first arrived here when an elderly woman returned from Hong Kong and later died in early March.
The number of probable Sars cases in Canada increased to 52 on Sunday, up from 46 on Saturday. Another 11 are suspect cases and 174 people are under investigation as possible cases.
Seventeen of the 62 people in hospital were in critical or deteriorating condition and 5 200 people remain in quarantine from the new Sars outbreak. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA