Atypical Pneumonia
10 April 2003

In less than a month, atypical pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome and the issues associated therewith have been debated, discussed and talked about ad nauseum by anyone who is anyone in Hong Kong and the rest of the world.

The already known casualties caused apart, the damage that it would likely caused to the community are likely to be far reaching and systemic. The virus has revealed the ability or the lack of it on the part of some of our government and community leaders in dealing with disasters and emergencies. More than that, it has uncovered human nature, both the good and bad sides. It has certainly caused chaoes in an already disturbed community.

In our District, very sadly, we have lost an outstanding medical doctor; meetings have been cancelled or resheduled; and the district calendar has never looked the same since.

While experts are battling against time to get to the root of the problem, and already, overseas experts have forecast that it would be at least 18 months before a vaccine could be developed, we say that no one in Hong Kong need to be or should be blamed for something which has the hallmark of a natural disaster.

RI being an international organization of business and professional people, it is surprising that we have yet to hear from RI leadership any statement or comment on the matter. In the meantime, concerned Rotarians and community leaders have been circulating on the internet useful information on AP and SARS. One such piece comes from a Professor Chandana Samaranayake, MD, at the Prince Philip Dental Hospital. We urge you to read this and other informed pieces so that we can help ourselves and others. More importantly, the District and in particular the District leadership should begin to prepare themselves to help rebuild a dis-oriented and lost community, but first, we should remain focused ourselves.