PM - Wednesday, 9 April , 2003
18:40:00
Reporter: John Taylor
MARK COLVIN: As the number of dead and
sick continues to mount from the worldwide outbreak of Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome, there are fresh claims that
China's communist leadership has not revealed the true extent
of the country's problem.
A local doctor in the main
hospital in Beijing treating SARS victims says the number of
sick and dead in China's capital is as much as three times
higher than has been publicly revealed.
In
Authoritarian China any person who releases information to the
media, contrary to the Government, is putting him or herself
at risk.
But this doctor has spoken to the ABC
Bureau in Beijing.
China Correspondent John
Taylor.
JOHN TAYLOR: Doctor Jiang Yanyong is a surgeon
at a military hospital in Beijing. He's in daily contact with
colleagues at hospitals in Beijing, treating people struck
down by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. And he's a witness
to frontline efforts to control the outbreak.
According
to China's Health Ministry, only 19 people have been infected
with SARS in Beijing, including four who have died. But Dr
Jiang says that's not correct, and he first started
investigating after a press conference last week by China's
Health Minister.
JIANG YANYONG [translated]: Minister
Jiang published that there were 12 cases of SARS in Beijing,
and three people died. I thought this number was incorrect. So
I went back to the hospital. All the doctors and the nurses
said it was incredible.
Only the amount of patients
that they had in their hospital was beyond that figure. How is
it possible that there are only such few cases in Beijing,
since most of the patients were in number 309 hospital, and I
know some doctors there. So I asked there around April 3rd.
So I asked them and they said that they had around 40
patients; 6 died. By April 9, doctors in 309 hospital told me
they had 60 patients; 7 died. Most of them who died were
old-age, so the public figures are not correct.
JOHN
TAYLOR: SARS first appeared in China in November last year.
Hundreds of people came down sick in the southern province of
Guangdong this year. Until only recently China wasn't
revealing the extent of the outbreak within its borders. Now
it has. Official figures say 53 people have died nationwide,
and there have been 1,279 recorded cases.
But if Dr
Jiang is right, and figures are being grossly unreported in
the capital, the true extent throughout the country is likely
far worse, making its claim that things are under "effective
control" a lie. And China already accounts for more than half
the world's deaths and infections.
JIANG YANYONG
[translated]: This disease can be prevented if the right
measures are taken. It is not uncontrollable, but if the
public information says that it is under control and it is not
necessary to wear masks, the condition will become worse, and
the disease will spread.
JOHN TAYLOR: People who
contradict authorities or expose official lies in China put
themselves at risk. But Dr Jiang says the government must deal
with this disease outbreak, and patients, based on
facts.
JIANG YANYONG [translated]: It's very important
how to deal with patients. The earlier they focus on it, the
better they can control it, and a number of deaths can be
reduced. No speculations and lies can be allowed in medical
matters, otherwise the people will lose, and finally the
government will lose.
MARK COLVIN: Dr Jiang Yanyong, a
brave man, speaking to John Taylor there. | 
