This is a difficult time for Hong Kong. Plagued by atypical pneumonia, more than a thousand have fallen ill. Hospital services have been disrupted. Schools were closed to prevent more students from contracting the disease. The economic damage caused by the outbreak is spreading as swiftly as the disease itself. Decisive action is needed as much to contain the virus as to help hard-hit businesses. It is high time for all to put aside differences and join hands in combating the virus. It is also a time when our society should express more love and care for the needy.

As one third of public hospital resources are redeployed to treat atypical pneumonia, both emergency and other non-emergency services are disrupted. Even worse, medical professionals have come down with the disease in treating patients. But our medical professionals are creating a legend in medical history. Frontline medical workers are carrying out their duties under the toughest conditions. Our scientists in the laboratories have meticulously worked through hundreds of experiments, spending nights away from their families. We salute them for their professionalism, self-sacrifice, and whole-hearted endeavour to protect the public from the deadly disease.
With inadequate manpower to combat the viral outbreak in public hospitals, the government should seriously consider making use of resources from the private medical sector to resolve the unprecedented crisis. The government can pay for private health care to treat cases other than atypical pneumonia, thereby easing the strain on public hospitals and bring public medical services back to a normal level.
For Hong Kong to survive this adversity, the government needs to enhance its transparency in the dissemination and flow of information. It is crucial for authorities to send out the right level of alarm. Too low an alarm means that advice will not be acted on. That was what happened weeks ago when officials tuned down the seriousness of the outbreak. Only the right pitch would help enhance caution and dispel panic. The public should be informed fully and promptly of the progress on investigation into the mechanism of infection to help contain spreading.
For a successful control of the outbreak, information exchanges with the Guangdong authorities are of utmost importance. Hong Kong should improve the mechanism for timely exchange of public health information with the central and Guangdong governments on medical knowledge about the virus, measures to control the contagion, and regular dissemination of information on the number of cases across the border.
The viral outbreak is taking a toll on the economy. Topping the list of casualties is the tourist industry. Over a hundred of flights were cancelled each day and the World Health Organisation has issued a warning against travelling to Hong Kong. With less people going out to eat and shop to avoid prolonged stays in public areas, the retailing and catering sectors are particularly hard-hit. Retail sales fell 12.4% by value from a year earlier to HK$12.7 billion and an abrupt downturn in March was recorded. Restaurants and shops have opted for alternatives to minimise loses, from operating for fewer hours per day to temporarily closing down to cut staff costs. This is going to worsen the already rampant unemployment. The government should provide economic relief measures to help businesses and individuals to survive the crisis.
Hong Kong's pain has never been so wrenching and the whole budgetary strategy to eliminate deficit has to be reconsidered. The proposed increase in income tax which hits the middle class hardest will make them curb spending. This will deal a fatal blow to shops and small businesses which are already on the brink of closing down. If small businesses and shops cannot survive this crisis, there is good reason to believe that the budgetary deficit will only get worse due to economic slump. Therefore, there is a strong case for the government to shelve its original plan to balance the books by 2006-07.
The Democratic Party has called for the government to defer proposed increases in salary taxes, freeze all government fees at their present levels and waive water and sewage charges for three months.
These proposals reduce the chances of businesses going bankrupt and throwing more people out of work. Small businesses whose profits plunged abruptly would be unable to pay the rent, and the most practical relief is a renegotiated rent or temporary rent reduction. This is certainly a practicable solution for commercial premises under the Housing Authority. If shops and restaurants close down, it is very probable that the premises will become vacant given dwindling demand. Therefore, rent reduction is in the interests of both the landlord and the small businesses. "A stitch in time saves nine." And a 30% to 50% rent reduction for commercial premises under the Housing Authority may save many small businesses from going bankrupt, thereby avoiding the snowball effect it would inflict upon the sluggish economy.
Lyndon Johnson made a famous speech in 1965 which is, in fact, timeless: "These are the enemies: poverty, ignorance, disease. They are our enemies, not our fellow man, not our neighbour. And these enemies too-poverty, disease and ignorance-we shall overcome." I believe by acting upon what I have put forward, that is, by providing immediate relief measures in time, the government can save many people and small businesses from plunging into poverty. With a better dissemination of information, we can certainly defeat "ignorance". And, lastly the disease, we shall overcome.

YEUNG SUM

Chairman of the Democratic Party and a directly elected Legislative

Councillor

[South China Morning Post, April , 2003]