PHOTO CAPTION - Caption: Amoy Gardens apartment complex, where hundreds of residents were infected with SARS and are suing the government for misconduct (Photo: AFP)

HONG KONG - Residents living in the Amoy Gardens apartment complex, where SARS exploded, infecting hundreds of them, are quite resentful of a recent SAR government report on the virus, which claims that no one in the government bears responsibility for the widespread outbreak. They now plan to team up with the proprietor of their home to sue the government.

The head of Hong Kong Medical Association, and a member of the SAR government's legislative body, Dr Lo Wing Lok stated that the report was contradictory because on one hand, it stated that Hong Kong's medical system had shortcomings, but at the same time claimed that the government had handled the SARS crisis well.

Calls For an Independent Investigation Committee

Ye Xing'guo, the head of the Amoy Gardens Board of Directors, was extremely unsatisfied with the recent SARS report, calling it “trivial critique but actually in favor (of the government)”. He claimed that according to his residents, some branch or member(s) of the government should take responsibility for problems that occurred during the crisis, and that they hadn't ruled out demanding that the government form an independent investigation committee to look into the government's handling of the outbreak.

Of the one hundred-plus Amoy Gardens residents infected by the virus, more than forty died. Yet the SARS experts' investigative report claimed that the government handled the crisis well, that no duty was unfulfilled, and that the government should not be criticized for negligence.

Ye, however, felt that the report merely focused on the technological side of things, without telling the entire course of events- that is, whether if there were any misconduct on the part of the government or other officials during the crisis.

He also scoffed at the report's claim that the government was caught unprepared during the initial stage of the crisis because Amoy Gardens SARS outbreak happened one month after SARS broke out in Hong Kong.

Intentions to Sue the SAR Government

Ye believes that the government administration acted improperly, and didn't act quickly enough in sealing off the Prince of Wales Hospital in Shatin, and Amoy Gardens, causing many medical personnel and area residents to become infected. Ye has also been in contact with SARS victims to seek legal means to sue the government.

During the beginning of the crisis, when news broke out about infected medical personnel and patients in the Prince of Wales Hospital, some media organizations questioned Dr. Yang Eng-Kioing, the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, whether or not SARS had spread to the general community.

Yang replied: "There is no Severe Acute Repertory Syndrome (the formal name for SARS) in the general community," the statement, caused many people to relax and lower their guard against the virus.

Subsequently, when hundreds of Amoy Gardens residents were infected, the government failed to quickly quarantine the victims, and to take proper measures to seal off the area.

Is There Anyone to Take Responsibility?

During the height of the SARS outbreak, many hospital workers were infected with and died from the virus.

The Hong Kong Nurse's Association is hopeing that the SAR legislative body will investigate who should bear responsibility for the complete failure to handle the outbreak well.

The Association feels, however, that the recent SARS report's suggestions for improvement measures were quite comprehensive and that if implemented, could greatly help Hong Kong deal with future crises.

During March and April of this year, the peak of the SARS crisis, the hospitals of two major universities, Hong Kong University and Chinese University of Hong Kong, were constantly conducting pathological research and sharing their results.

Hong Kong University Microbiology professor Yuan Guoyong felt that the report was detailed and cited many facts, especially with regards to founding a Sanitation and Illness Prevention Center, which in his opinion would play a great role in handling future sudden outbreaks of an infectious disease.