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Beijing Comes Under Fire for Stonewalling the World Health Organization over SARS Again
NewsPundit.net ^
| 6/6/2003
| Douglas Oliver
Posted on 06/06/2003 7:52:15 PM PDT by ex-Texan
Beijing Comes Under Fire for Stonewalling the World Health Organization over SARS Again !
Why is it that health officials in Beijing stupidly make the same mistakes again and again? Why do they persist in reporting they have the SARS virus under control, when it is apparent that such reports consist of little more than blatant lies and subtle evasions?
On June 3rd the question of official Chinese dissembling about SARS again reared its ugly head in world news reports. A Reuters report quoted WHO officials saying that they had come to mistrust Beijing's statistics showing a fall off in the number of patients being treated for this dangerous new virus. The report raised fundamental questions about Beijing's honesty about the success of their treatment programs. In the words of one United Nations official, "We are concerned about how these cases are being counted. We do not know enough about where these numbers are coming from . . . China has a credibility problem." Quoting briefly from that report:
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday questioned a reported sharp fall in new SARS cases in China, the world's worst-hit country, saying it was "concerned" at how the counting was being done.
The United Nations health agency has warned the only way to beat the potentially-fatal respiratory disease, which has no simple treatment, is through rigorous identification of cases and patients' immediate isolation.
It fears that if the disease, which kills 15 percent of its victims, takes root in the vast Chinese countryside, it could become a permanent health threat around the globe where more than 8,300 people have already caught it.
On Tuesday, China announced just three new cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), two of them in Beijing. It has gone nine days in a row with fewer than 10 officially reported fresh infections. * * *
China has more than a credibility problem. They have a real problem telling the truth. Especially in telling the truth where lives are placed at risk in other countries.
It is now apparent that Beijing and the World Heath Organization seriously disagree over how China is compiling its healthcare statistics. "China, WHO seriously differ over SARS figures" screamed the June 4th headline in the The Hindu , regarded as India's "National Newspaper."
WHO officials appear to be very concerned about the basic adequacy of China's health care in the provinces outside Beijing and other major cities. There have been reports of riots and violence in remote regions from all over China when patients suspected of having the potentially fatal virus are locked away in abandoned school facilities or held in hospitals under armed guard. No one is able to say if patients locked away for such treatment are responding to treatment and are recovering, or have been simply locked away to die a slow and agonizing death.
Chinese military hospitals are also said to be secret houses of suffering and death for soldiers exposed to the virus. Many civilians were rushed secretly into quarantine in military hospitals and there is no information being released by Beijing about rates of cure or alleged "fatality rates."
But forced detention quarantine (i.e. hospital imprisonment) is just the tip of the iceberg.
When a two day meeting of Health Officials from China, Japan, South Korea and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations broke up the people who participated were also very critical of Beijing's attitude toward reporting progress in treatment of this "mystery disease."
The June 2nd edition of the AFP report from Beijing quoted as predicting that "China faces a disaster from the SARS virus." One health minister even openly suggested that something ominous was revealed by the statistics he had seen relating to the way in which the "virus spreads." One has to pause and reflect about the implications of that pronouncement, especially in light of the habitual subtlety most Chinese officials use to express themselves.
On June 3rd breaking news report by the Asia Times caught my eye because the headline was shouting "New SARS Disaster Looms in Beijing."
That report is amazing because of its great attention to detail. It is even more amazing because it almost reads almost like a criminal indictment of Beijing's effort of cover up a brand new SARS outbreak in a large residential complex known as the Beiyuan Gardens. What is truly shocking is that Chinese health officials had not quarantined the project. People were simply left on their own to stay indoors, or leave, or flee into the city or the countryside. It is unknown if any action has been taken as late as June 5th.
In view of the seriousness of the Asia Times report, I urge every reader of NewsPundit.net SARS reports to read it and ask "what is really going on in China."
Clearly Beijing is more worried about the economic impact of SARS on China, than the far greater risk of spreading the disease around the world. The reaction of officials in China has been typical of a rather closed and secretive society consumed totally with "saving face" at every opportunity.
This does not look the least bit promising for those of us who live outside China and who might happen to come into contact only rarely with a visitor from China. As summer is beginning to warm up the virus may be on the wane naturally. The virus appears to be spread by people who have no obvious symptoms at all, just a slight cough or the sniffles.
Get ready for a new and much more serious outbreak in the U.S. during the Fall and Winter of 2003.
(Excerpt) Read more at newspundit.net ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: beijing; beijingonsars; beiyuangardens; china; coverup; reporting; sars; who; whodisputeschina
China is lying about SARS again. Is any one on FR the least bit surprised?
1
posted on
06/06/2003 7:52:15 PM PDT
by
ex-Texan
To: ex-Texan; Judith Anne; Mother Abigail; CathyRyan; per loin; Dog Gone; Petronski; InShanghai; ...
No, not a surprise.
To: aristeides
If they're lying I'm dying!
Oh I've been dead for 30 years!
To: ex-Texan
Red China has been building a tissue of lies from the very genesis of this outbreak. They've not changed in the least.
To: ex-Texan
It's probably raging out of control and they've just given up.
5
posted on
06/06/2003 8:06:18 PM PDT
by
IYAAYAS
(Live free or die trying)
To: aristeides
"No, not a surprise." Ditto. (bump)
6
posted on
06/06/2003 8:09:18 PM PDT
by
blam
To: ex-Texan
No one is able to say if patients locked away for such treatment are responding to treatment and are recovering, or have been simply locked away to die a slow and agonizing death. Sad. Very sad.
What is truly shocking is that Chinese health officials had not quarantined the project (Beiyuan Gardens). People were simply left on their own to stay indoors, or leave, or flee into the city or the countryside. It is unknown if any action has been taken as late as June 5th.
It sounds like they’ve given up.
7
posted on
06/06/2003 8:23:38 PM PDT
by
flutters
(God Bless The USA)
To: ex-Texan
It's probably too early to tell how much SARS is being undercounted. We have to remember that a very large percentage of China's population has respiratory ailments of some kind to begin with, so the difficulty in enumerating SARS cases isn't simply a matter of dishonest officials.
It's interesting that SARS infection rate has apparently tapered off in both Hong Kong and southern Guangdong province where it originally came from. In those two places at least, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, as they're highly integrated with the world economy and major outbreaks are virtually impossible to cover up. If SARS decimates the workforce of some toy factory manufacturing products for an MNC, I wonder how they can prevent that from being known.
To: Filibuster_60
To: FL_engineer
Thanks, FL_engineer. Let's shine the FReeplight on China's lies...their SARS problem may be ours, this fall...
10
posted on
06/09/2003 3:12:57 AM PDT
by
Judith Anne
(The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.)
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