SARS Update On Situation At IMH

17 May 2003

The Ministry of Health has now established that the cluster of IMH patients and staff who came down with fever from 11th to 12th May is not due to SARs. A total of 54 persons comprising 34 inpatients and 20 staff from IMH were admitted to TTSH for observation for fever. All the patients were in stable condition. Since yesterday, 25 have been discharged. So far, PCR testing for coronavirus has been negative in samples taken from 31 patients and 9 staff. Of 9 persons tested, 2 patients and 4 staff were positive for influenza B virus.

On 13th May, when the outbreak of fever cases amongst staff and patients were discovered, IMH and the Ministry of Health jointly decided that it would be prudent for all IMH staff to observe isolation for a period of 10 days from 14 May 2003 till 23 May 2003. During this time, the staff would continue to work and to look after their patients.

There was thus an urgent need to obtain immediately available housing for the nearly 1400 staff. As a HDB housing flat in Woodlands were available, the first batch of staff moved into the flat on the same night.

Following that, hotel accomodation was arranged in the interests of staff welfare, as the staff were continuing to work whilst awaiting the results of the investigations into the fever outbreak. The IMH staff are to be commended for working cohesively as a group and working selflessly in their patients' interests during a difficult period.

As at 2pm today, there continue to be no new probable cases, discharges or deaths reported. The number of patients who have recovered from SARS is 157, with 19 patients still hospitalised and 7 of them in intensive care.