Government denies accusations of cover-up over Sars

By FRANCESCA MOLD and NATASHA HARRIS

Opposition MPs have accused the Government of covering up Sars cases in New Zealand by failing to report possible victims to the World Health Organisation.

It has been revealed that eight possible Sars cases were reported by doctors to a technical advisory group set up by the Ministry of Health to investigate and decide whether they should be reported to the WHO.

But the Director of Public Health, Dr Colin Tukuitonga, last night said there was no cover-up and that the cases had been dealt with properly.

"The committee have scrutinised all eight cases and based on their advice the ministry found only one case to meet the criteria."

The cases involved are in Auckland (four), the Waikato, Hawkes Bay and Dunedin.

But he said that if there were a test for Sars, "one or more" of these seven cases might have Sars.

Dr Tukuitonga said the seven New Zealand cases were excluded as not having Sars because they had other diagnoses caused by another virus or that their symptoms did not meet WHO criteria.

One case - a Hawkes Bay woman who returned from a tour of China about two weeks ago - has been reported as a probable case to the WHO.

The advisory group's chairman, Dr Lance Jennings, has said some of the other cases could still turn out to be infected, although they had been ruled out on "current information available".

"In all likelihood they don't have Sars because of the suspect case protocol they're under but we're not trying to cover anything ... Most of these cases are in the public domain," Dr Jennings said.

Wellington Hospital infectious disease specialist Tim Blackmore said that as many as four of the cases could be Sars.

"By the strict WHO criteria, these people could be labelled as having Sars, but the clinicians looking at them didn't think they had it," he said.

"We have been conservative with reporting to WHO but we have been very aggressive locally about making sure the disease is not transferred."

Mr Blackmore said the reason the committee was being more conservative in telling the WHO of possible Sars cases was to protect patients' privacy.

"The New Zealand public needs to have faith that we are not ignoring possible Sars cases and even if we do or don't report them to WHO at a particular time we are making sure the public health is being protected," he said.

National health spokeswoman Lynda Scott questioned why the information about the extra cases had not been shared with the public until now. She accused the Government of trying to hide the truth.

"How is this any different to the Chinese Minister of Health suppressing information on the number of cases?" she said.

But Health Minister Annette King said she had never received any information from the expert group other than what had already been made public.

Ms King said the decision to identify someone as a "probable" Sars case was made by the committee.

NZ Sars criteria

* Fever of at least 38 degrees

* Respiratory symptoms, eg shortness of breath, cough

* Been in an country where Sars has been locally transmitted

* A person admitted to hospital will have blood tests, x-rays and have their symptoms kept under observation

WHO Sars criteria

* Fever of at least 38 degrees

* Respiratory symptoms, eg shortness of breath, cough

* Been in an country where Sars has been locally transmitted