Vol.4, No.09

CHINA HEALTH SCIENCES NEWSLETTER

Vol. 4 , No. 9 - May 28, 2003

 

TOPICS THIS ISSUE:

• SARS - Beijing hospitals facing legal action from patients
• China Welcomes WHO's Lifting of Travel Advisory on Hong Kong and Guangdong
• Shanghai firm in $1.3b revamp
• Chinese military medical researchers discover three anti-SARS polypeptides
• VSM MedTech supplies MEG system to Chinese hospital
• Guangzhou Opens The Largest Self-Service Pharmacy In China

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SARS - Beijing hospitals facing legal action from patients

Hospitals in Beijing are facing legal action from SARS patients who claim they became infected with the virus after entering medical facilities. It said both health authorities and hospitals are likely to face a rising number of prosecutions over the sharp infection rate in city hospitals.

The Beijing Xicheng District Health Bureau has been reported to have received at least a dozen complaints against hospitals so far. Some SARS patients, who were infected in hospitals due to lack of sufficient isolation measures, and their family members have begun to prepare to prosecute for faulty medical treatment.

The World Health Organization has blamed the rapid outbreak of SARS in Beijing, the worst hit city in the world, on underprepared hospitals, which made them a breeding ground for the disease. Fever clinics -- areas in hospitals where patients with fever, a symptom of SARS, are first diagnosed -- grouped ordinary patients seeking treatment for flu or other respiratory diseases with SARS cases during a chaotic and often confusing period in the early stages of the outbreak, the WHO has said.

Although legal proceedings are under way by individuals, Beijing authorities said they would not take action against hospitals where cross-infection occurred in March and early April, before the government admitted covering up the scale of the crisis. It is not clear whether officials who did know the scale of the problem but who covered it up would be held responsible. The Beijing People's Procuratorate issued a notice last week saying that governments and officials who suppress information about SARS will be prosecuted, but it did not clarify if this included officials already sacked, such as former Beijing mayor Meng Xuenong.

(Source: AFX Asia News)

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China Welcomes WHO's Lifting of Travel Advisory on Hong Kong and Guangdong

Tung Chee-hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, welcomed Friday 23 May the World Health Organization's decision to lift its travel advisory against Hong Kong. He said Hong Kong will make more efforts towards having zero SARS infections and being removed from the WHO's list of SARS infected areas as early as possible. Huang Huahua, governor of China's southern province of Guangdong, also welcomed the WHO's decision, saying that Guangdong would seize this opportunity to recover its tourism, catering and transportation industries.

China attaches great importance to providing psychological assistance to the patients and medical staff in quarantined zones. Psychologists in Tianjin recently moved their offices into the quarantined zones to offer treatment and assistance to the patients, as well as to the doctors and nurses.

SARS has brought many fundamental changes to the lifestyle of Chinese people. A survey conducted by a Beijing local newspaper Saturday showed that more than 80 per cent of the interviewees promised they would never spit or litter in public venues again.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)

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Shanghai firm in $1.3b revamp

Shanghai Industrial Holdings - the Shanghai government-backed conglomerate - said its acquisition of a controlling stake in a Chinese public company would provide a financing channel for its mainland expansion program. In what is described as the biggest restructuring program since its Hong Kong listing and involving nearly HK$1.34 billion, the company will buy 56.63 per cent of Shanghai-listed Shanghai Industrial United Holdings while taking private SIIC Medical Science and Technology (SIIC MedTech) - a 65.96-per cent held pharmaceutical unit listed on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM).

The move will bring all of the blue chip's pharmaceutical assets under one roof, creating a common but "bigger medical investment platform'' for the company. Shanghai Industrial has net assets worth HK$1.35 billion against SIIC MedTech's estimated HK$800 million.

China's pharmaceutical industry is growing at more than double the pace of the entire economy. Last year, its assets rose 19 per cent to 319.4 billion yuan (HK$301.19 billion) while sales rose 15.7 per cent to 245.5 billion yuan.

(Source: Hong Kong Imail)

Chinese military medical researchers discover three anti-SARS polypeptides

Researchers at China's No 4 Military Medical University have discovered nine polypeptides and 13 antibodies that can restrain the coronavirus which causes SARS. Three of the polypeptides have passed tests by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of China as reported the People's Daily Renmin Ribao Overseas recently.

Reports suggest that the polypeptides proved to be effective in restraining the coronavirus in in-vitro studies conducted by the CDC. The coronavirus is a kind of single-stranded ribovirus, said Chen Zhinan, who is director of the cell engineering centre and in charge of SARS research at the medical university.

Chen and his colleagues found a sun-like ring around the coronavirus and four structural proteins inside. They also discovered that the S protein played a critical role in self-replication and invasion into human cells, as well as that the three new-found polypeptides could stop the coronavirus from intruding into human cells.

So far, there are no available special medicine to cure and treat SARS cases. The new discovery signifies a significant step forward in developing anti-SARS medicines.

(Source: British Broadcasting Corporation)

 

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