DPP, pan-blue to hold SARS draft talk

The DPP and the pan-blue camp are expected to hold negotiations in the Legislative Yuan today as the two camps struggle over a draft bill which, if passed, would provide funds to meet the costs of containing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

The negotiation was scheduled after the DPP presented its version of a bill to contain the spread of SARS that suggested the government set up a special fund of NT$50 billion to ease the economic impact caused by SARS.

On Sunday, the KMT and PFP legislative caucuses drew up a draft bill for a special fund of NT$25 billion to subsidize medical expenses and to fund aid packages to help contain the SARS outbreak.

The DPP opposed the pan-blue draft, emphasizing that the legislative formulation for containing SARS should be approached more comprehensively.

"A legal protection against SARS should be made with comprehensive reviews," said DPP legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).

The DPP, in response to the pro-blue camp's call of endorsing its version, suggested that an amendment to the Disaster Prevention Law (災害防救法) should be discussed aside from drafting an ad hoc bill.

The DPP proposed to add epidemic prevention and countermeasures to the disaster prevention law as efficient epidemic prevention and control would require measures other than sanitary care, Ker said.

The DPP presented its proposal of the regulation after meeting with Executive Yuan officials yesterday afternoon.

The DPP suggested that the special fund to battle SARS should amount to NT$50 billion, NT$25 billion more than the opposition's proposed version.

"The NT$50 billion proposal will meet the requirements for prevention and containment," said Legislator Lin Chung-cheng (林忠正), citing Hong Kong's SARS containment and prevention fund of NT$48 billion.

"Compared to the fund set aside for a total of 6 million residents in Hong Kong, Taiwan will need more than NT$100 billion fund to fight the epidemic if the epidemic gets worse," he said.

The TSU proposed a NT$100 billion special fund should be set up for the prevention and control of SARS.

Calling for speeding up the legislative approval of the pan-blue's joint version of the special bill, two opposition leaders, KMT Chairman Lien Chan and PFP Chairman James Soong, visited the Legislature Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday morning. The opposition leaders urged Wang to lead the legislators to pass the draft bill on Friday.