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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 21, 2003

SARS Whistle-blower Breathing Sigh of Relief

The first doctor to blow the whistle on the mis-reporting of SARS endemic in China, especially in the capital city of Beijing, said on Tuesday that he had "breathed a sigh of relief'' after the number of new cases of the flu-like infection had dropped. However, Jiang cautioned about complacence.


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The first doctor to blow the whistle on the mis-reporting of SARS endemic in China, especially in the capital city of Beijing, said on Tuesday that he had "breathed a sigh of relief'' after the number of new cases of the flu-like infection had dropped. However, Jiang cautioned about complacence.

Professor Jiang Yanyong, 72, a retired physician at the People's Liberation Army General Hospital (Hospital No 301 in Beijing) accepted interviews in Beijing on Monday. Jiang said: "Obviously, the prevention and control measures (adopted by the government) have brought about marked progress in the fight against the epidemic. And, I am relieved now.''

Meanwhile, Ji Lin, deputy director of the Beijing municipal leading group on SARS prevention and control, told a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday that Jiang has not been put under any pressure or restrictions.

Jiang has been in the spotlight since early April, when he publicly debated the claim by then Health Minister Zhang Wenkang who said on April 3 that Beijing had only 12 SARS cases and 3 deaths. Jiang said Zhang's information was inaccurate and misleading.

In letters sent to two major television stations in Beijing and Hong Kong, and then to Time magazine, Professor Jiang said, according to his knowledge, at least 6 people had died of SARS and 60 others had been infected at Beijing's Hospital No 309 alone as of April 3. Hospital 309 is also a clinic run by the PLA that treats patients suffering from infectious diseases.

Zhang Wenkang was fired as China's health minister on April 20, together with Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong.

Referring to his speaking out, Professor Jiang said: "I believe what I did as a doctor has played a certain role in combating the epidemic.''

But the 72-year-old doctor cautioned that it is still too early to be optimistic about the drive against the virus.

"I'm not an anti-SARS professional but, judging from the scenario and experience in Hong Kong, I think it still takes time to resolve the problem completely,'' Jiang said.

Jiang said phone calls and e-mails have flooded in from journalists and newspaper readers since early April but his life has not changed otherwise.

His everyday activities involve reading books and surfing the Internet, he said.

"Every Monday, I do the rounds of the wards in Hospital No 301 and I will operate on a patient this Thursday,'' the doctor said. As an expert, the hospital has provided him a car.

A graduate of Beijing's Yenching University, Jiang joined the People's Liberation Army in 1954. He is a former director of the surgery department of Hospital No 301 and a famous surgeon of the nation. (China Daily News)


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