Since the admission of the third probable severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) patient last week at the Penang general hospital, its medical workers have been told that their leave would be 'frozen' for an indefinite period of time .

Doctors and nurses are lamenting the fact that they are required to report for duty despite feeling 'under the weather', in case they are needed to deal with victims of the deadly virus which has claimed the lives of at least 165 people and infected more that 3,000 people globally.

The designated health workers are also being placed o­n standby duty despite having MCs or being certified to be 'medically unfit to work'.

"And the authorities tell us not to panic over the virus, but what they are doing to us speak volumes of their own state of panic" said a doctor, obviously upset with the abrupt administrative and physical changes in the government hospital since the first Sars victim made headlines in the country.

Since that first episode, Malaysians have been advised not to panic unnecessarily over the flu-like disease as the Health Ministry claimed that it has not yet spread to the community like it did in high-risk countries like China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore and Canada.

Instead several sectors, including government officials, are complaining that the local media are making a big brouhaha over the matter despite the ministry's commendable job in containing the disease.

What an irony

Last Friday, at a public forum o­n Sars, Penangites were told in the same vein that it was ironic for the public to be so fearful of the disease when malaria kills at a rate of o­ne million people annually, tuberculosis 2.3 million and influenza 250,000 to 500,000.

Recently, at the Penang GH, white boards displaying Sars posters also carry those of road accident statistics just to get the message across that people are more likely to die of a car crash than the fatal disease.

At the forum entitled 'The Truth of Sars', cardiologist Dr o­ng Hean Teik commented that the real tragedy of Sars was that the disease had created "a suspicious and society, discrimination against those infected and an adverse economic impact o­n the country".

"The lack of knowledge o­n the disease and how it spreads was creating paranoia among the community although the mortality rate was o­nly about four percent," o­ng told the 200-odd participants at the three-hour talk organised by the Penang Medical Practitioners' Society (PMPS).

But paranoia or not, Sars is a serious public health issue, said another speaker at the forum, The Star's executive editor Wong Chun Wai when presenting his talk entitled 'Sars: The International Story".

"More people died of Sars in the last two weeks compared with the total number of Americans killed in the war in Iraq," said Wong.

Cordoned off

Indeed, it would be difficult for visitors to the Penang hospital not to be paranoid over the issue when they are confronted with four big army-like tents when they enter the emergency unit these days.

The area has been cordoned off and labelled 'Khas untuk Sars' (dedicated to Sars) and a team of medical staff wearing blue uniforms and donning respiratory masks are made to sit under the tent, which is not fully enclosed, night and day, o­n an eight hourly shift.

Visitors accompanying patients at the unit are now prohibited from parking their vehicles at the parking lot. o­nly ambulances are allowed to park there.

The ward in Block A, which houses patients entitled for 'First Class', will soon be renovated for the purpose of treating Sars patients.

At o­ne time, visitors were even suspicious that they may be children infected by the virus as the paediatric ward, C3, has been vacated, renovated, bearing the notice 'Di Larang Masuk: Wad untuk Sars' (Do Not Enter: Sars Ward).

There is even a security guard assigned there just to ensure that the area is off-limits to hundreds of daily visitors to the government hospital.

Deprived of attention

Meanwhile, top-level medical staff - physicians, specialists, senior medical officers, sisters and staff nurses, have been redesignated to the wards dedicated to Sars.

In a way, this has left their former wards 'deprived' of top medical attention.

For example, a patient at the Emergency ward could not consult the physician about his medical problem for about five days as the doctor was entirely "dedicated" to Sars.

The patient, who is suffering from lung effusion, had nobody to turn to as the senior medical officer, sister o­n duty and senior staff nurse there were also re-assigned to handle Sars cases.

And another medical officer, who was supposed to be overseeing the Emergency ward had to leave to take his examination overseas.

"Why are there so many staff dedicated to (only three) Sars patients, when they are more patients, about 40, some seriously ill, in the Emergency ward," said a family member of the patient.

Malaysiakini brought this matter to the attention of the State Health director Dr Azmi Shapie at the public forum held at the Caring Society Complex o­n Friday, but no answer was forthcoming.

The director was then asked to explain how local doctors treating Sars patients protect themselves.

Dr Azmi, who talked o­n 'The Malaysian/ Penang situation', said that preventive barrier nursing has been put in place to prevent healthcare workers from being infected.

"We are learning from the mistakes in Hong Kong and Singapore," he replied.

"It was reported that over 50 percent of Sars cases in Hong Kong involved healthcare personnel, so we are doing everything possible to ensure that our staff are well protected," he added.

"If healthcare workers are affected, the chances of the virus being transmitted to the community at large is greater," he stressed.

Masks effective or not?

Due to the high potentiality of healthcare workers catching the disease, all general hospital staff have been advised to wear surgical masks.

"But are these masks effective?" asked participants at the forum that night.

Consultant chest physician Dr Ronnie Chong replied that the mask is a good protection from sneeze droplets but not the virus, adding that at this juncture, as there were no local transmission, it was not necessary for the public to wear masks.

Dr Chong spoke o­n 'How to recognise Sars'. The four speaker panel was moderated by PMPS chairperson Dr Lim Boon Sho.

Although there are no directive for the public at large to don masks to protect themselves, masks are o­n high demand as local pharmacies record brisk sales and prices have sky-rocketed from RM3.50 to RM5.00 per piece.

According to Dr Lim, higher quality masks are now selling at RM13.50 per piece. What pricey item, considering its questionable effectiveness.

Well, it appears that while Malaysians are in a state of panic and doctors are at their wits end finding ways to prevent the Sars infection, pharmacies and surgical mask manufacturers and distributors are laughing all the way to the bank.