WHY MEDICAL SCHOOLS MUST WORK TOGETHER IN THE SARS CRISIS

I refer to 'Winning and losing: the fight against Sars' by Lam Shiu-kum, Dean of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong (South China Morning Post, April 9).

I find the article to be most untimely, especially when the whole of Hong Kong needs to join hands to fight this dreadful disease.

This is not the time for trumpet-blowing or finger pointing. This is the time for solidarity and mutual help, especially among healthcare professionals.

Accusations of a low index of suspicion, raw judgment and weak infection control in the other hospitals are easy in hindsight.

Had the patient in question, in those early days of the outbreak when little was known, been admitted to Queen Mary Hospital, shedding huge doses of the virus silently in a busy medical ward, the picture there could have been very different to the one we see today. Rivalry between the two universities is not new, often with the Hospital Authority squeezed in between.

However, I certainly see most welcome signs of collaboration among far-sighted colleagues, including noble acts of the two deans themselves, to heal old wounds for the betterment of Hong Kong.