Information access a positive move

The fight against the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak has pushed the Ministry of Health into the public spotlight. For weeks, its daily reports on the situation of the killer disease were essential to people across the country eager to know the real picture of the epidemic.

The country's eventual control of the disease has proven the credibility and authority of the daily reporting system on SARS. No doubt, victory over SARS could not have taken place if the ministry had not chosen to give timely and accurate information on the illness.

Much to the public's delight, such good practices were maintained and expanded to other areas by the ministry even after the decline of SARS.

In the past two weeks, the ministry has issued several information releases on the situation of the encephalitis B epidemic in South China's Guangdong Province.

Although the contagious disease has only affected a very small number of people and was largely confined to Guangdong, there is no 100 per cent guarantee that it would not touch a sensitive nerve with the public, as the country is still recovering from the scourge of SARS.

Therefore, precise descriptions on the spread of the disease and the provision of scientific knowledge on how to prevent the disease, which the health ministry has done, were highly necessary to ward off possible social panic.

On Thursday, in another welcome move to follow the good practices of making information public, the ministry released a report on poisoning cases in the past six months. Apart from figures of injuries and deaths, it also included detailed information on the types of toxins involved and descriptions of typical cases.

Apparently, the report not only provides necessary information to the public but also helps people learn lessons from the past, thus preventing similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

The efforts made by the Ministry of Health to keep people informed on pivotal events concerning their health and welfare will certainly won public praise. Experience gained in the past, especially in the fight against SARS, proves that the timely release of information from authoritative bodies, even if it was negative, could only produce positive results.

We hope, as a good example of a government department that respects the public's right to know about issues of concern, that the practices of the health ministry could also be adopted by other governmental organizations.

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