Drawing SARS lessons, China warns of bird flu
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-03-04 21:14

"This year we are not going to serve too many poultry-related dishes on the deputies' dinner tables, and all poultry products we purchase will be strictly examined by the city health authorities," a staff with Beijing Continental Grand Hotel told Xinhua on Saturday.

The four-star hotel is one of a dozen local hotels designated to accommodate some 3,000 deputies to the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature which will start its annual full session here on Sunday.

"We also plan to give health lectures on bird flu to the NPC deputies staying in our hotel," the staff added.

On the eve of China's regular political high season, marked by the opening of the parliament session, the Chinese central and local authorities were continuously issuing warnings to the public against the possible spread of avian influenza, which to date had caused 14 human infections on the Chinese mainland and claimed eight lives.

Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu acknowledged Thursday that the country is faced with a "fairly grave situation" in the prevention and control of the bird flu epidemic, and the health authorities in South China's Guangdong Province on Friday reported a suspected case of human fatality from the bird flu.

This has constituted a sharp contrast with what happened exactly three years ago, when the country was hit by another deadly epidemic SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). An information blackout about the new disease by the Ministry of Health and the Beijing municipal government left most people in the Chinese capital, including lawmakers from across the country participating in the NPC session, totally unaware of the SARS menace.

The truth came out shortly after the conclusion of the sessions of the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and immediately caused public panic in Beijing and other parts of the country.

A total of 340 lives were lost in the following months before the epidemic was brought under control, while then Minister of Health Zhang Wenkang and Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong also lost their official posts due to their deliberately holding of key public health information.

"Since the government had released no information, I knew nothing about the SARS situation in Beijing when I came here for that year's NPC session," recalled Zhang Yu, a lawmaker from the neighboring municipality of Tianjin.

Wang Guochang, an NPC deputy from southwest China's Guizhou Province, also noted that he fell in panic only after the NPC session had concluded and the truth had been exposed. "However, I still had no idea how to protect myself from this dreadful and fatal disease," Wang added.

Zhang Yu, who is also director of the Tianjin Municipal Health Department, believed that without the bitter lessons drawn from the 2003 SARS crisis, the possibility of a massive outbreak of the bird flu this spring could once again trigger nationwide panic.

"Fortunately, great changes have taken place over the past three years, as we have learned that public panic is not caused by telling them the truth, but by trying to concealing the truth," said Zhang.

China has adopted a series of regulations requiring local governments, particularly health officials like Zhang, to report any major epidemic outbreak in a timely and faithful manner, pledging to remove any "lying officials" from office and sternly punish them.

In 2005, 31 bird flu outbreaks were reported on the Chinese mainland, leading to the cull of 22.57 million poultry. However, there has been no sign of public panic across the country.

"The SARS outbreak has transformed the government's approach for handling public emergencies and building public health system, " said Zhang. "But for a large country like China, public health incidents will remain a long-time challenge for the government."