One S'pore hospital to handle SARS

One S'pore hospital to handle SARS

SINGAPORE: Singapore's health minister said the city-state would devote one of its main hospitals to only treating patients with a mysterious flu-like illness that has sickened 51 people locally and hundreds worldwide.

Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which houses the Communicable Diseases Center, will now only admit patients suspected of having severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, said Health Minister Lim Hng Kiang on Saturday. Other patients there would be transferred out.

In a statement on Sunday, the health ministry said 48 people with SARS have already been isolated at Tan Tock Seng, along with at least 39 others showing symptoms. Nine were in critical condition.

The confirmed cases in Singapore include some foreign nationals who work in local hospitals -- five from the Philippines, two from Malaysia and three from mainland China.

In neighboring Kuala Lumpur, the outbreak of SARS pneumonia has affected Malaysia Airlines flights, especially to Hong Kong, a news report said Sunday. --AP