Military base fined for negligence in flu case
Daxing military training base, where 3,100 first-year students of Beihang University underwent military training in October last year, was fined 60,000 yuan for negligence in the death of the first A/H1N1 patient in Beijing, the city's public emergency management office said.
In the circular, issued in December but made public on the weekend, Daxing district center of disease control (CDC) also received a public reprimand for its delayed reporting of the A/H1N1 incident to higher authorities.
A freshman died in Daxing district hospital on Oct 27. The health bureau said the man was among 3,100 freshmen participating in compulsory military drills.
On Oct 22, 3,108 first-year students of Beihang University, the nation's top aeronautics and astronautics institution, were sent to Daxing military training base. Within days, 718 students became feverish and 72 were admitted to hospital.
According to the circular, the military training base didn't inform the local authorities of its training plan before holding the course.
Additionally, the base was accused of not accompanying those sick students to hospital and failing to inform the Daxing CDC quickly enough. It was suggested this was the reason why doctors lost the chance to effectively control the disease.
However, there were concerns as to why Beihang University was not on the list. "It was not right time for the university to send the students to the training base, because cold autumn could trigger the flu among the students," said an unnamed teacher at Beihang University.
Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing CDC, said yesterday she hadn't received the circular and both the Beijing Daxing military base and the Daxing CDC were not picking up their phones.
As of Jan 3, 10,833 people in Beijing were diagnosed with A/H1N1 flu and 70 people were reported to have died from it, according to the Beijing municipal health bureau. From Dec 28 to Jan 3, A/H1N1 cases accounted for 25 percent of total flu cases.
Cui Xiaohuo contributed to the story
(China Daily 01/11/2010 page25)
