The transfer of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients to designated hospitals is aimed to give them still better treatment instead of covering up the SARS situation, said a Beijing municipal official on Friday.

At a press briefing on the SARS situation in Beijing, Cai Fuchao, director of the Publicity Department of the Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), cited the hearsay that patients were transferred to cover up the true situation of SARS as "very irresponsible."

On Wednesday night, 130 SARS patients were moved from the People's Hospital, the Beijing Medical University and No. 3 Hospital affiliated with the medical university, to the hospitals designated for treatment, where special medical experts teams have been set up.

Meanwhile, according to Guo Jiyong, deputy director of the its health bureau, Beijing municipality has 50 ambulances at hand for the transfer of SARS patients.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2003)