Transcript Of Dr Balaji Sadasivan's Interview With Channel Newsasia - Singapore's Seriousness In Preventing Cross-Border Transmission Of Sars.

15 May 2003

By Dr Balaji Sadasivan's

Channel NewsAsia (English), Singapore Tonight,

2200 hours, 15.5.03.

There is good news on the Sars front. So far, none of those in the Institute of Mental Health cluster has tested positive for Sars. It looks like an outbreak of flu, but it will take 48 to 72 hours to confirm they don't have Sars. Minister of State for Health Dr Balaji Sadasivan revealed this in an exclusive interview with Asha Popatlal:

AP: "On Tuesday, after 15 straight days with no new Sars cases, it was announced a cluster of patients and staff at Singapore's Institute of Mental Health suddenly came down with fever:"

Dr Balaji: "So far, none of the tests that have come in have shown Sars, but we need to wait until all testing is done. I'm told that our doctors need about another 48 to 72 hours before they have all the tests in. Then only, you can conclude and say that each one of your fever patients is not Sars and, therefore, there is no outbreak. It could be flu, it could be something else."

AP: "This means Singapore may still go 20 days without a new case, proving local transmission is under control. If, however, it does turn out to be Sars, Dr Balaji says the IMH outbreak may prove to be easier to control:"

Dr Balaji: "One is because of the no-visitor rule and because generally, in a mental hospital, there are less patients, I mean, there are less people moving in and out. The number of people who may be exposed will be much less and contact-tracing may, therefore, involve less people. The second feature about IMH is that the patients there are admitted for mental illness, so that these patients may not have the same multiple medical problems that patients in Singapore General or NUH may have."

AP: "Turning to the segregated housing for IMH staff, Dr Balaji said the Institute had also weighed staff welfare. As a precaution, the 1,600 staff had volunteered to stay away from home for ten days. Initially, they were housed at HDB blocks at Woodlands, but a day later, IMH decided to move them to hotels:"

Dr Balaji: "This was a decision taken by the IMH's senior staff as a welfare issue. We didn't intervene and stop them, but I can understand that, you know, because they have taken this welfare issue, Singaporeans may look at it as a public health issue and then, you know, be worried about what its implications are. But I want to assure them that IMH's decisions were based on welfare. It was not done as a directive from us as a public health issue."

AP: "Even though the IMH staff are low-risk, housing them in hotels has triggered concern amongst some people:"

Dr Balaji: "Although some of them are staying in hotels, there is no risk to the community. Of course, no one can guarantee to any single person that you can't get Sars, but I think we can quite safely say that the risk of them staying in a hotel and transmitting Sars, you know, is so small and is certainly no higher than if they stayed at home or stayed anywhere else."

AP: "While at the hotels, staff have to stay in their rooms, not have any visitors and cannot use the hotel facilities."

Dr Balaji has also robustly rebutted an editorial in Malaysia's Berita Harian. The report alleges that Singapore is not serious about taking steps to prevent the export of Sars. In the exclusive interview with Asha Popatlal, Dr Balaji says there is no basis for such allegations:

AP: "This editorial in Malaysia's Berita Harian on Wednesday highlights the case of a Japanese boy who was stopped at Kuala Lumpur Airport with fever and admitted to a Malaysian hospital. He'd been travelling back to Japan via Singapore and the Malay language newspaper questioned Singapore's determination to prevent the export of Sars:"

Dr Balaji: "There's no basis for such allegations. Sometimes, they may have written it because they don't fully appreciate the measures we have taken, but our attitude, you know, is to do everything we can, both to control Sars within Singapore as well as to ensure there's no transborder spread."

AP: "Dr Balaji also defended the Sars precautions which Singapore has taken at all its sea, air and land checkpoints. Singapore has screened more than 120,000 air travellers. Only four were admitted to hospital and so far, none have Sars:"

Dr Balaji: "Now, you can screen a person when he leaves the airport, but the person can then develop a fever on the plane. So, that's why it's important that people are screened both at the airport that they leave as well as the airport that they arrive at to make sure that they don't have a fever. The very fact that you find someone with fever does not mean that, you know, someone is exporting Sars to you."

AP: "In fact, Dr Balaji says the Japanese boy's fever had come down and it's not likely to be Sars and so far, none of the Sars cases in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, are linked to any Singapore cases:"

Dr Balaji: "So far, the Malaysians have given us five cases based on the cases that they thought may be Sars. We have investigated and given them reports on the five. Just recently, they've given us another 18 cases that they want us to investigate. Our doctors are working on it and we'll submit the reports back to the Malaysians as soon as they are ready."

AP: "As Dr Balaji explained, Singapore is very serious about preventing any

cross-border transmission of Sars:"

Dr Balaji: "Our goal is to become Sars-free. Hopefully, we'll reach it this month or next month and when we reach the status of being Sars-free, our biggest concern will be new Sars cases coming back, coming in from our neighbours. So, it's in our interests to help our neighbours, you know, as far as possible to ensure that they also remain Sars-free. So, in this battle against Sars, our effort has to be collective. It's a global battle and we are all on the same side."