Media Tour SARS Hospital Wards in Beijing

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, April 18, 2003

Media Tour SARS Hospital Wards in Beijing

He smiled and gave reporters the victory sign Thursday at Beijing Ditan Hospital, one of the capital's best known hospitals treating infectious diseases.

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He smiled and gave reporters the victory sign Thursday at Beijing Ditan Hospital, one of the capital's best known hospitals treating infectious diseases.

While the man's identity was protected by hospital staff, he is one of 10 patients in their care diagnosed with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

The 10 confirmed SARS cases include four people from the Chinese mainland, four foreigners and two from Taiwan Province, according to Xiang Xiaopei, vice-president of Ditan Hospital.

Local and foreign reporters were invited into the wards yesterday for a tour organized by the Beijing Municipal Information Office and the Information Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

About 130 foreign journalists from 18 countries, and reporters from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Taiwan Province took up the invitation yesterday to visit sites around Beijing, such as the hospital and Beijing West Railway Station.

Pekka Aro, a Finnish official with the International Labour Organization, died of SARS at Ditan Hospital on April 6.

A Canadian traveller who was infected with SARS in Beijing has recovered and been discharged, according to Xiang.

Meanwhile, another 15 people suspected of SARS are also being treated at the hospital, one of several in Beijing authorized to receive atypical pneumonia patients.

Those infected have had the full material and moral support of the Chinese Government.

The wards of SARS patients look no different from any others. Two or three patients share a room with a patio. Patients wear similar clothes. Some have face masks and some do not.

There is an oxygen cylinder at every sickbed. Some seriously ill patients are equipped with respirators to help them breathe.

Flowers, fruits and other food are piled on their bedside tables, as in any ordinary wards.

"Relatives and friends of SARS patients are forbidden to visit them because of safety concerns. So all of these patients were transferred by our doctors and nurses to the wards," explained a doctor in the hospital, who declined to be named.

The wards differ from most in the hospital in that they are fitted with a telephone.

The selfless spirit of medical staff has been widely commended by officials of the World Health Organization (WHO). "Our hospital is doing its utmost to provide patients with the best treatment possible," said Xiang.

Beijing-based Peking University announced that one of its staff from the College of Economics was suspected of SARS and had been transferred to No 3 Hospital attached to Peking University, Xu Zhihong, the university president, said Thursday.

The worker, who was not named, fell ill after caring for her mother, who was infected by the disease outside Beijing, according to Xu.

In Beijing, a campaign is under way to prevent the spread of the flu-like illness via public transport.

The T97 train from Beijing to Kowloon in Hong Kong was the railway's top priority for disinfecting and cleaning.

No one has contracted SARS through the railway system in Beijing so far, according to Shi Jun, vice-director of the Beijing Railway Epidemic Prevention Station.

But there were no obvious signs posted to inform the 80,000 to 100,000 people who use the station daily about the disease and how to prevent it.

In other developments yesterday, Shanghai Public Health Bureau announced a second case of SARS in the city. It said the patient is now in a stable condition.

According to the bureau's press release, the patient, 68, is the father of the person confirmed as the first imported case of SARS in Shanghai.

Twenty-nine new patients with SARS were admitted to hospitals in Hong Kong, while 15 were discharged, said a statement jointly issued by the Department of Health and the hospital authority of Hong Kong.

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