Medic alleges SARS cover-up

China: A prominent Beijing-based surgeon has accused the Chinese government of concealing the full extent of a deadly SARS outbreak…

China: A prominent Beijing-based surgeon has accused the Chinese government of concealing the full extent of a deadly SARS outbreak. Beijing has had several more deaths and five times as many cases of infection as publicly reported, he claimed yesterday.

The claim of unreported deaths came from Dr Jiang Yanyong, retired chief of surgery for a Beijing military hospital. He said that two other military-run institutions had suffered at least seven fatalities. In total, there had been 106 cases of the disease.

The Chinese authorities have reported four deaths and 19 cases in Beijing.

The allegation coincided with state media repeating the government's insistence that the outbreak was under control.

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Dr Jiang said his information came from hospital doctors and nurses. He quoted health workers as saying public comments by China's health minister about the outbreak were "nonsens".

He said he had not been contacted by the authorities about his claims. "No trouble for now, but I don't know what will happen later," said Dr Jiang (72), who continues to see patients at the No. 301 hospital after retiring as its chief surgeon.

SARS has killed more than 100 people worldwide and infected more than 2,300 people.

China has reported 53 deaths - all but 10 of them in the southern province of Guangdong.

The World Health Organisation and several governments have issued warnings against travelling to Guangdong.

A number of WHO investigators have visited the province of Guangdong to try to locate the source of the infection, but have so far not found anything conclusive. - (AFP)