Barring the Suspected Patients of SARS from Leaving the Country

Korean government authority decided to send the lists of the suspected patients of SARS to Ministry of Justice and prohibit their leaving the country for the time being. Government authority also decided to send more medical personnel to four quarantine stations where there are frequent coming and going to China, in order to reinforce the quarantine inspection for the people entering a country.

“At the meeting which was held recently with the representatives of Health Department from 3 Asian countries, the decision has been made to prohibit the patients including the suspected from leaving the country,” said the person in the epidemic authorities said on April 28. “Soon, the epidemic authorities will report the personal histories about the suspected patients to Immigration Bureau in order to restrict them from leaving the countries.

Thus, National Institutes of Health (NIH) decided that it would allow the Japanese man who had been suspected to leave the country only if any symptoms would not be found in 48 hours.

Prime Minister Ko Geon had meting `Urgent meeting with related Minister regarding on SARS` at Government office at Sejong-ro, Seoul. After the meeting he said, the designated hospitals for SARS will additionally be secured and the emergency treatment clinics and temporary quarantine stations will be built at Incheon International Airport. Minister Ko on April 29 made a budget and supported primarily the amount of 6 billion won to prevent SARS. And he will consider closing schools if suspected patients are found at school.

On the other hand, the NIH is blamed for not being transparent by reporting differently the symptoms of the patients from what they had actually been and also denying the summoning the urgent meeting of the professionals consult committee. “The lung seemed healthy by X-ray examination,” said NIH on April 27 at the asking by the reporter about the health state of Park entering the country from Seonjeon in China. And also had denied the fact that the consult committee was summoned.

Kwon Jun-wook, the section manager of the NIH said, “The medical doctors reported that pneumonia is suspected in some part of the lung after 3 times of X-ray examination on April 26-27. However, the Consult Committee concluded that there was no pneumonia symptom after discussing the X-ray film taken on April 27.

The section manager Kwon explained, “We couldn`t announce it because the people might feel panic and anxious at the case unproved.”

The number of the suspected SARS patients is 13 as of April 28 as one woman was found to have taken an antifebrile before entering the nation on April 27.

Jin Lee Dong-Ki Sung leej@donga.com esprit@donga.com