Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, April 26, 2003
WHO Experts 'Are Allowed to Do Whatever They Wanted': Dr. Maguire
James Maguire, an expert with the World Health Organization (WHO), said Friday in Shanghai that he and his WHO colleagues who recently visited Shanghai "were allowed to go wherever we wanted to and do whatever we wanted" in their efforts to investigate the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
James Maguire, an expert with the World Health Organization (WHO), said Friday in Shanghai that he and his WHO colleagues who recently visited Shanghai "were allowed to go wherever we wanted to and do whatever we wanted" in their efforts to investigate the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Maguire made the remarks at a press conference before concluding the team's five-day tour in Shanghai.
According to him, the Shanghai municipal government provided the team with a list of all medical institutions and hospitals and allowed the team to investigate them at random.
Maguire said the expert team notified hospitals only five to thirty minutes before beginning investigations.
Each hospital they investigated provided relevant documents and files to the experts, he added.
Other experts present at the conference included Keiji Fukuda, Daniel Chin and Li Ailan.
Shanghai's Reporting System 'No Large Hole'
Dr. Daniel Chin, an expert with the World Health Organization (WHO), said Friday afternoon that there is "no large hole" in Shanghai's reporting system on the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) set up one month ago.
Chin told the press before concluding the team's five-day visit that the team had detected no "large and systematic" underreporting or cover-up in Shanghai.
The team visited the hospitals rumored to be underreporting or covering up cases, Chin said, however, no underreporting of cases was found, despite the fact that these hospitals were given only between five and 30 minutes advance notice.
China has redefined the standards for the diagnosis of SARS. Following the application of the new standards on April 16, confirmed SARS cases rose nationwide, Chin said. However, in Shanghai, only suspected cases increased, according to Chin.
The latest statistics released by China's Ministry of Health show that, as of 8:00 p.m. on April 24, Shanghai had reported two confirmed and 18 suspected SARS cases.