"It is the medical profession's responsibility to look after patients," Ma said in response. "The medical personnel should remember their professional ethics and save people from death. The government will provide them with whatever they need to live."
Although the Taipei City Government had promised to arrange for SARS and non-SARS patients to be separated soon after the quarantine began, this did not happen until late yesterday afternoon.
Those trapped inside the hospital also complained that the government was neglecting their needs and that they were worried about their families.
"We didn't have any breakfast," yelled one of the staff who tried to leave the hospital.
A middle-aged man whose daughter had been admitted into the hospital with intestinal problems complained that he could not visit her.
"There is no TV, phone or newspapers in the hospital. TV and phones were cut yesterday evening. When the patients or family members tried to order food from outside, only those who paid got some. The others could not get food," he told television reporters.
All the family members of hospital employees are subject to a two-week home quarantine.
Taipei City Government yesterday set up a center to coordinate SARS prevention measures at the hospital. Ou will head the center, which was set up in the Police Radio Station next to the hospital.
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