The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Hospital Authority has decided to hand out instant Chinese medicine crystal powder to the public hospitals' front-line medical staff to enable them to guard against atypical pneumonia.
Such was reported by Chinese-language newspaper Wen Wei Po Thursday, as it quoted Ko Wing Man, deputy director in charge of operations and public affairs of the HKSAR Hospital Authority, as saying that the authority is learning from the experience of neighboring Guangdong Province's widespread use of Chinese medicine to guard against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Starting in this week, the HKSAR Hospital Authority will be handing out widely to its frontline medical staff packets of the powder researched by the Chinese University of Hong Kong as an alternative to prevent the contraction of the disease. But medical staffs are free to choose to use or not to use the official supplies, the report said.
But those who choose to use the medicine will need to fill out a questionnaire inquiring their physical condition and living condition.
A therapeutic cycle lasts for 28 days, of which the first 14 days involve the administration of the medication, while for the next 14 days, the administration will cease for clinical observations.
So far, 4.2 million packets of such crystal powder have been manufactured by the university, and the supply will be sufficient for about 3,000 front-line medical staff, the newspaper report said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2003)
