Global Communication Network for Physicians and Other Health Professionals

Dear All:

We support the WMA’s call to establish a global communication network for physicians to convey more effectively to individual physicians information about SARS and other communicable diseases.

As a territory worse hit by SARS, Hong Kong has stepped up all measures to contain the disease. We have been making use of our rapid communication system via e-mail to disseminate information on SARS to members and have established a SARS page on our website at www.hkma.org. Other than those fighting the disease in hospitals, practitioners in the community volunteered to help with health screening, to give health talks, and to act as health advisers to schools and elderly homes. We are also setting up a system to alleviate the workload of colleagues working in public hospitals.

We look forward to working hand-in-hand with colleagues in the rest of the world and to your blessing in this difficult time that we have not had for many years.

The Hong Kong Medical Association

WMA Council Resolution on SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

The current SARS epidemic has caused alarmingly high levels of morbidity and mortality world-wide, and therefore the WMA calls on WHO (World Health Organization), other intergovernmental agencies and governments to:

• Share with the WMA and NMAs the lessons learnt during the SARS epidemic, e.g. the most effective preventive measures, communication techniques, diagnostic and therapeutic methods, travel advisories, using an evidence-based approach;
• Help the WMA and NMAs develop a global communication network for physicians and other health professionals to more effectively convey information about SARS and other communicable diseases to individual health professionals