While still in her post as director of health during the SARS outbreak last year, Margaret Chan was reluctant to impose quarantine measures on Block E at Amoy Gardens.

Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong revealed this yesterday while emphasizing his own role as coordinator for public health policy during the SARS crisis.

He was speaking at the SARS inquiry at the Legislative Council yesterday afternoon.

When asked by legislators whether he had evaded responsibility, Yeoh said he had done his best to fulfill his commitments during the outbreak.

Yeoh said Margaret Chan had expressed reluctance when he suggested enacting legislation to quarantine Block E at Amoy Gardens.

Yeoh said the government task force made the initial decision to quarantine the block as more evidence pointed to the area as the source of infection in March last year.

But he said Chan was worried about Hong Kong becoming "the laughing stock of the world for imposing draconian public health measures".

"She was quite apprehensive to enact a quarantine ordinance at Amoy Gardens to isolate residents, due to the possibility of a negative perception of Hong Kong in the eyes of the international community," he said.

After many cases of SARS were reported at Amoy Gardens, health officials evacuated residents of Block E from the housing estate to quarantine camps on April 1 as the estate became a breeding ground for new infections.

Earlier, the inquiry heard from the former health director who suggested that her disagreements with Yeoh over the naming of the disease had delayed legislation on quarantine measures and the gazetting of the disease.

"If less time was spent on these discussions, laws could have been passed as early as March 16 last year," she said.

Chan told the hearing that the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau had indicated its preference for SRS to SARS to the Department of Health.

But Yeoh said the naming of the disease was never a major topic of discussion.

(China Daily HK Edition March 17, 2004)