Independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to be aware of the risk of Ebola becoming a global pandemic and called on members from different camps to put their political differences aside and work together to combat the disease.
Referencing a report published by the WHO, in which the organization said the number of people affected by the virus was increasing to reach 5,000 to 10,000 new cases per week from now into December, Ko, director of National Taiwan University Hospital’s Department of Traumatology, said the disease could evolve into a serious crisis with the potential to endanger world stability.
“I would like to urge President Ma to approach with caution the possibility of a global Ebola outbreak, as US President Barack Obama and leaders in the EU have, and conduct a thorough review of existing disease prevention measures and policies,” Ko said on Facebook.
“Judging from past experience, the widespread panic caused by inadequate disease prevention policies is more fearsome than the disease itself… The mistakes made by Taipei during its handling of the 2003 SARS outbreak must not be repeated,” he wrote.
Ma, then mayor of Taipei, approved an order issued by the city government’s then-health commissioner Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞) to close Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital in a quarantine aimed at limiting the spread of SARS.
The decision, which involved quarantining more than 1,000 paramedics and patients, of whom seven tested positive for SARS, was heavily criticized for increasing the chances of cross-infection.
“Disease prevention knows no political views. It cannot be categorized as either the responsibility of the pan-green or pan-blue camps, or central or local governments. Rather, there should be a crusade that requires the participation of all Taiwanese people,” Ko said.
In a three-point online statement, Ko said he had sought former Department of Health minister Lee Ming-liang’s (李明亮) consent to convene Ko’s Ebola prevention strategy team, for which he plans to recruit Centers for Disease Control officials as well as academics experienced in SARS prevention.
In so doing, Taipei would be able to lay out comprehensive disease control measures and be fully protected against Ebola from the day he assumes office as Taipei mayor, Ko said, underlining his confidence about winning the mayoral election on Nov. 29.
He added that with 30 years of experience as a physician, he is confident he can provide Taipei residents with a sound disease prevention system, improve the city government’s preparedness for disease control and work potential solutions for a variety of scenarios in the event of an Ebola outbreak.
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
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