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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (94630)	4/20/2003 9:01:15 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

You are welcome, Yiwu. Speaking of mistakes, this story illustrates the ones China makes in dealing with a problem when they use their central planning system. It is what makes us gweilo suspicious of them. Beijing Told Doctors To Hide SARS Victims By John Pomfret Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, April 20, 2003; Page A10 BEIJING, April 19 -- Chinese authorities ordered doctors in Beijing to hide SARS patients from a team of World Health Organization experts last week in an attempt to play down the extent of the epidemic, Chinese doctors and other sources said today. Authorities transferred about 40 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome to a hotel on the grounds of one hospital, and at another facility moved more than 30 SARS patients into ambulances to prevent the WHO team from finding them, the sources said. A worker at the Zihuachun Hotel, on the grounds of People's Liberation Hospital No. 309, said several dozen patients were taken to the hotel Tuesday morning, the day WHO officials visited two military hospitals. The patients were moved back to the hospital that evening, he said. Doctors at the Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital said 30 SARS patients, all medical personnel, were packed into ambulances while a WHO team visited the hospital. "It was done to avoid detection by the WHO. We drove the patients around Beijing," said a senior medical official at the hospital. "We were ordered by the Beijing government. We don't know if the central government was aware, but we assume it was." The doctors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed a report published Friday on the Web site of Time magazine. The actions, which doctors said were ordered by the Beijing city government and the Chinese army, mark the most egregious in a series of steps taken by the Chinese government to cover up the extent of the epidemic. A Western medical researcher said this type of behavior is common in China. While researching drug-resistant tuberculosis in another province, she said, she discovered patients being kept in an elevator because the hospital did not want her to have an accurate picture of the problem. REST AT:http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A58325-2003Apr19?language=printer And then they do this, rather than admitting what happened. China sacks minister over Sars Mark Oliver and agencies Sunday April 20, 2003 China's health minister, Zhang Wenkang, and Beijing's mayor, Meng Xuenong, have both been sacked over the outbreak of Sars, official news agency reports said today, while seven more deaths from the virus were announced in Hong Kong. REST AT:http://www.guardian.co.uk/sars/story/0,13036,940255,00.html Here are two quotes from a "Time" Article on the subject. >>>>>"You foreigners value each person's life more than we do because you have fewer people in your countries," says a Shanghai respiratory specialist, who sits on an advisory committee dealing with epidemic diseases. "Our primary concern is social stability, and if a few people's deaths are kept secret, it's worth it to keep things stable."<<<< >>> As a TIME reporter continued through the ward, another nurse who wouldn't give her name stopped him and explained, "Look, I'm not pushing you away. I do this for your own good. It's too dangerous here. Even we who work here don't know when we'll get it. Don't believe the government. They never tell you the truth. They say it's a deadly disease with 4% mortality? Are you kidding me? The death rate is at least 25%. In this hospital alone, there are more than 10 patients dead already."<<<< time.com Pretty damning, Yiwu.