A Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital staff member tried to jump from one of the hospital's windows yesterday as those under quarantine inside continued to vent their frustrations to the outside world.
The apparent suicide attempt failed after two other people dragged the person back inside.
Others inside the facility hung more protest signs on the outside of the hospital to press their case to be released. Many expressed fears about being in such close quarters with those who had been confirmed as having severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
"We are healthy people, we want separation from SARS patients. We want to get out of Hoping Hospital and we don't want to wait for death," one sign read.
Via a videoconferencing system set up for those under quarantine to contact their families, the dean of the hospital's radiation department, Dr. Fang Ying-jen (
"There is no proper quarantine equipment ... in the hospital. It is possible that everyone who is in the hospital is infected with SARS," she said.
"Right now it is likely that any medical staff who have contracted SARS are still caring for non-SARS patients. A chain reaction may be inevitable.
"If we do not do anything about the situation, in the end it may be that everyone will contract SARS," she said.
She also said that those sleeping in the hospital's Alternative Service Training Center were at grave risk of catching the disease because there were six people sleeping in each room.
"So far there have already been three cases of high fever among those staying at the center," she said.
"I strongly urge the government to help quarantine the Hoping staff with a room for each person. There are many locations in Taipei suitable for this kind of confinement.
"The most important thing now is to try and save all the patients," she said.
Outside the hospital, family members of those under quarantine gathered to protest the treatment of their loved ones. A man surnamed Yang carried a banner criticizing Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) handling of the affair.
"Please step up to save us innocent people," the banner urged central government officials.
Yang's mother was admitted into the hospital with intestinal problems and his sister was inside visiting her when the quarantine order was enacted.
"Earlier it was heard inside the hospital that those who had no SARS could be released soon, but it never happened," he said. "Those without SARS should not be confined for such a long time. I will be relieved only when my family is sent to somewhere safe."
His story was corroborated by a man surnamed Chen, whose sister is a nurse working on the 7th floor of the B building, where a number of people are thought to have caught the disease. Chen said his sister told him that the authorities had agreed to release those without SARS. But that the decision was reversed a day later, he said, with SARS patients being removed and those without symptoms remaining at the hospital.
"Now the staff inside are not in a mood to work anymore," he said.
At a press conference yesterday morning, a relative of someone inside the hospital angered Deputy Taipei Mayor Ou Chin-der (
"Do not spread any more rumors," Ou shouted. "The important thing now is to help the people inside. We will always tell the public the truth and we need public support too."
Meanwhile, the Taipei City Government moved to monitor how SARS cases were being handled in the hospital. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC) epidemiologist Jim Lando and the former director of the city's Bureau of Health, Yeh Chin-chuan (
"The separation policy has been in place for a few days. Now Yeh and Lando will be inside to see whether it is running smoothly."
Also yesterday, 18 people suspected of having SARS were transferred from Hoping Hospital to Air Force Sung Shan Hospital. Another 40 possible cases will also be moved to Sung Shan Hospital today, while 16 possible cases will be moved to other municipal hospitals, with each taking two patients.
As of press time last night, according to the Taipei City Government, there were three deaths related to SARS.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the