Taipei City Government yesterday became embroiled in a conflict with the central government about how to respond to and prevent the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Taipei has insisted that the disease be listed as a statutory communicable disease, but their request was turned down by the Cabinet's Department of Health.
In response to the Cabinet's refusal, the director of Taipei's Bureau of Health, Chiou Shu-ti (
Instead of naming SARS as a statutory communicable disease, the DOH has termed the disease as a "quasi-statutory communicable disease."
Designating SARS as a statutory communicable disease would allow heath authorities to quarantine any individuals suspected of being infecting with the disease.
So far, the DOH has only separated "probable cases" of SARS for medical treatment, while those who have had direct contact with the patients were not subject to any quarantine measures for observation.
Chiou said though the DOH has activated the reporting mechanism for SARS cases nation-wide, prevention measures would only be partially implemented if the disease was not legally listed to authorize health officials to enforce the necessary quarantine measures.
"I have never seen any legal terms such as a `quasi-statutory communicable disease' before," Chiou said yesterday.
According to the Disease Prevention Law, Chiou said, the central authority has the power to designate any new disease whose cause or cure may not be known yet under the "fourth category of statutory communicable disease" for the control and prevention of the disease.
SARS can be applied to a legal framework, Chiou said, in order to allow the health authorities to conduct prevention measures.
"In Singapore, the heath authority has demanded that hundreds of suspected SARS cases stay home as a preventitive measure, whereas here in Taipei, we have encountered difficulties enforcing such a demand as there is no legal ground for us to act," Chiou said.
"I don't understand why the DOH is not interested in designating the disease under the existing fourth category as a statutory communicable disease, and instead has created a new term `quasi-statutory communicable disease,'" he said.
Chiu said that when health officials carry out disease-prevention work, they could infringe on people's rights by closing schools or companies, providing personal medical records, limiting the mobility of individuals and investigating an individual's health background. and history.
A legal basis is necessary so that prevention work and human rights can both be taken care of, Chiu said.
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