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Top health official says nation worthy of WHO entry

The director of Taipei City Govern-ment's Public Health Department said yesterday that the nation's excellent performance in containing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) proves that it would be a valuable member of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Chiu Shu-ti (邱淑媞), Taipei City's top health official, said the nation has done much better than China and Hong Kong in coping with SARS despite not being a WHO member.

Chiu said the appeal to the WHO for assistance in detecting and controlling SARS when cases began appearing in mid-March was turned down on the grounds that the nation should contact the WHO through China as the world health body considers Taiwan a part of China, an idea fiercely denied by officials.

China has been criticized for contributing to the spread of the disease by initially trying to cover up the SARS situation apparently out of concerns about possible public panic and negative effects on the economy.

Even according to Beijing's official figures of SARS cases, which many believe to be below the actual figures, China still accounts for the largest number of reported SARS cases in the world and about half of the resultant deaths, according to Chiu.

Hong Kong has been more forthcoming in providing information about the SARS situation thanks to the relative freedom of the press established by the former British colonial government and the media's resultant close monitoring of the government's handling of the disease, Chiu said.

Hong Kong's huge traffic of passengers to and from China has complicated health authorities' task of checking the disease, Chiu added.

Compared with China and Hong Kong, Taiwan has been more effective in combating the disease, she said, placing the credit mainly on the nation's democracy, which gives mass media greater access to government information and allows it to subject the government to the watchful eyes of the public.

Furthermore, Taiwan values human life much more than China or Hong Kong does, she said, adding that it would not readily tolerate the loss of lives because of an epidemic. This might account for why the nation has taken the lead in listing SARS as a statutory communicable disease, she added.

Taiwan's practice of quarantining potential SARS patients at their homes and providing them with meals everyday has minimized the transmission of SARS, Chiu said.

The nation's performance in checking SARS proves that it would be a valuable member of the WHO, she said, not least because of its experience in containing the epidemic.

The eruption of SARS also justifies the nation's claims that the WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network will not be whole and its battle against disease not completely effective without Taiwan's inclusion in the organization, Chiu said.
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