WHO bird flu boss was condemned by HONG KONG Legislative Council for handling SARS,Margaret Chan FUNG Fu-chun ,current
Assistant Director-General - Communicable Diseases of WHO and one of the 9 Asst DG,was Director of Health of Hong Kong during SARS period.
2.But SHE WAS CONDEMNED BY Legislative
Council and her performance was critized by
Legislative Council Select Committee--
HONG KONG Legislative
Council Select Committee to inquire into the handling of
the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak by
the Government and the Hospital Authority and The Director of Health, Dr Margaret CHAN FUNG Fu-chun
15.14 D of H is the chief adviser to the Government on
public healthmatters and the public officer who is vested
with statutory authority to enforce
measures for the control and prevention of
infectious diseases.
15.15 During the SARS epidemic,
D of H, Dr Margaret CHAN, was responsible for providing
public health advice to Dr YEOH. Dr CHAN was
also responsible for the control and prevention
of infectious diseases, including
outbreak investigation and control; disease surveillance;
contact tracing;enforcement of public health legislation;
liaison with the healthcarecommunity; public education;
liaison with the Mainland authorities and the
international health community; and the provision
f pathology laboratory services.
15.16 The Select Committee considers that Dr Margaret
CHAN should be
held responsible for not attaching sufficient importance to
“soft intelligence” on the AP epidemic in Guangdong in
January and early February 2003. In
addition, Dr CHAN did not appear to have taken full
account of the heavy passenger flow between Guangdong
and Hong Kong when formulating
policies on infectious disease surveillance and control.
15.17 The Select Committee notes that the Deputy D of H,
Dr LEUNG Pak-yin, raised the question of whether DH
should send a team or an official to
Guangdong in February 2003 to learn more about
the AP epidemic there with Legislative Council Select
Committee to inquire into the handling of
the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak
by the Government and the Hospital Authority
- page 253 -
Dr CHAN but the matter was not taken up further.
The Select Committee is
of the view that Dr CHAN should have explored
other avenues to obtain more information on the
AP epidemic in Guangdong.
15.18 The Select Committee
considers that it would have been prudent to
add SARS to the First Schedule to Cap. 141 immediately
after WHO had named the disease, and that Dr CHAN,
as the chief public health adviser,
should be held responsible for not initiating
action to amend the law on or
immediately after 15 March 2003.
15.19 The Select Committee finds the performance
of Dr Margaret CHAN not satisfactory in the handling
of the SARS outbreak in the above aspects.
3.
On 09.07.2004,HONG KONG Legislative Council passed
a motion to condemn her in handling SARS.pg 201,In view of the serious nature of Dr Margaret
CHAN's blunders and also
the grave consequences that ensued, we maintain that although she has already left the Government and is working for WHO, she still deserves condemnation by the Legislative Council.
With these remarks, I beg to move.--LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 9472; 9 July 2004
page 9169
fr
Hong Kong HANSARD 09.10.20044.Do u think she is eligible to lead Communicable Diseases in WHO?
HK people can tell u more about her performance
At least 2 Parties in HK agreed made a motion to critize her.5.The bird flu is coming .
WHO
predicts that it will transmit to whole world in 3 months!!,as WHO
report to Conference for bird flu held in Beijiang now.Jan 2006.
Are the world in the good hand to fight
Pandemic Influenzawhile the Assistant Director-General of WHO responsible for Communicable Diseases possessed a records of handling SARS not so admirable ?
