Health Ministry deputy director-general Dr Mohd Ismail Merican took to task the administrators of certain designated hospitals for delaying reports of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) notification cases.

At his daily briefing at the ministry this morning, Mohd Ismail underlined the importance of giving information as soon as possible to the ministry so that action can be taken immediately to contain the situation.

Sufficient data

"Reporting must be current and information must be adequate. We don't want the figure to jump to a (higher) figure suddenly (due to delayed reports rather than actual occurrences)," he said.

For instance, he said, there were nine delayed notification cases among the 27 new reports o­n Saturday. The delayed reports involved patients admitted between April 3 and 11.

He said that, if the nine cases had been reported upon detection, then the number of notification cases would not have increased alarmingly overnight, giving the false impression of a deteriorating situation.

Mohd Ismail also told the hospitals to record sufficient information o­n the patients and report everything to the ministry.

Without the patients' full particulars, he said, the ministry would find it tough to follow up o­n their status as well as to trace those who have come into contact with them.

Wrong information

Mohd Ismail rebuked a state executive councillor for giving out "inaccurate" information o­n the status of the fourth probable patient who is an Indian national working o­n a cruise-liner.

Kedah health, unity, welfare and Indian affairs committee chairperson V Saravaran was reported to have said yesterday that the 26-year-old patient has been discharged from the Langkawi hospital where she has been warded since April 7.

However, Mohd Ismail clarified today, "This probable patient in Langkawi has been discharged from the isolation ward but still remains in the hospital ward."

He added that Saravaran's statement in the same report that a healthcare provider was among the new admissions at the hospital was also "not true".

"There are many reasons why people are confused about the Sars situation, and this (inaccurate information by others) is o­ne of the reasons. We are not very happy about this...we have been saying time and again that o­nly three people - the health minister, director-general and his deputy - are allowed to make statements o­n Sars," Mohd Ismail said.

Previously, two other executive councillors, o­ne each from Penang and Perak, had also released Sars-related information to reporters and had been "advised" not to do so again.

Mohd Ismail said those concerned should impose "discipline" in both notifying the ministry of new developments of the disease and in giving statements to the public.

"To avoid such inaccuracies of information, we have to ensure that there is o­nly o­ne source of information, and hospitals to report (notification cases) as soon as possible to us to let us add up the number and report the current figure to the media," he stressed.

Daily update

Up till yesterday:

  • 27 people, including two probable cases (unchanged), were isolated in designated hospitals;
  • No new suspected cases were reported, leaving the number at eight;
  • Three notification cases were received; and
  • 85 people linked to the Penang probable case are under home quarantine. (see charts)

However, the ministry is still investigating two of the three notification cases reported yesterday to ascertain whether they may have to be classified as suspected cases.

These involve a 64-year-old woman and her 12-year-old granddaughter from Kangar, Perlis. They were hospitalised after showing Sars symptoms. However, Mohd Ismail said the initial chest X-rays of the woman were "normal".

The girl's mother is working in Singapore and living in Johor. She last visited them o­n April 10.

"We are trying to find out the health status of the mother but we haven't managed to get any response to our phone calls," he said, adding that Johor health department personnel too could not find her at home.

Scientists worldwide believe a new strain from the coronovirus family is the reason leading to Sars but they have yet to identify the strain.

Of the four probable cases detected so far in Malaysia, the unknown coronovirus was found in the first probable patient (a 64-year-old man from Jerantut who died) and the second probable patient (an 84-year-old man from Teluk Intan who has recovered).

The results for another two probable patients - a 26-year-old man in Penang and the Indian national - are pending.