Date: 17th April 2003
Released by: ANDREW TURNER

Isle of Wight MP Andrew Turner has called for the Government’s Chief Medical Officer to ‘get a grip of the SARS crisis’ by providing information both to his constituents and to heads of boarding schools on the level of danger posed by schoolchildren from Hong Kong.

He said:
“My constituents are confused by the contradictory information coming from the authorities on the the SARS virus. They are very sympathetic to the children concerned, being pushed from pillar to post, depending on the whims of their headteachers, but are asking why the children have to be quarantined and what steps are being taken to prevent infection spreading.

“Their questions need answering urgently, because different agencies are putting out different information.

Mr Turner gave as examples of administrative confusion:

• The Hong Kong Government says quarantine is “unnecessary” and unduly stressful and twice daily medical checks are sufficient: “While we appreciate the need for caution and protection, this discriminatory action will serve to stigmatise our students at schools, which is most undesirable from an educational point of view.”
• But the Boarding School Association has told schools to take any action they deem necessary to protect pupils in these “unprecedented and volatile circumstances.”
• On the other hand the Public Health Laboratory, says: “Quarantining young people from Hong Kong is not the way forward. This is quite uncommon in young people and everybody who leaves Hong Kong is screened to make sure they are well. There is a risk of people developing Sars after they have come from Hong Kong and southern China, but that's more common in older people” (source: BBC website, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/2957951.stm, 18th April 2003).
• But the World Health Organization says, “It is better to be overcautious and then review at a later date, than to deny that there is a problem and then suffer the consequences” (source: BBC website, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2905665.stm, 2nd April 2003)

Mr Turner added:
“It is deeply unfortunate that the message is so confused, and even more important therefore that the country’s top medic should respond. I have been in touch today with the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, and asked him to set the record straight. I will also be asking him why, if it is necessary for schoolchildren to be screened and quarantined, more is not being done about the threat to public health by the thousands of other visitors to the United Kingdom every day through SARS, TB and Aids.”