China - Sichuan officials dismissed for bird flu [negligence]

[Theresa42]

Sichuan officials dismissed for bird flu
Zhang Liuhao
2006-05-11

FIVE officials of Dazhu County, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, have been dismissed from their positions for negligently dealing with a bird flu outbreak in the county at the beginning of this year, Xinhua news agency reported.

On December 24, a bird and poultry farmer in Yangjia Town, surnamed Liu, reported bird deaths to Liu Shengyu, director of the town's pasturage station, and to a town government official, Feng Renfu.

But Liu Shengyu didn't pay much attention to the bird deaths Liu reported. He ceased to investigate, and didn't report the situation to the major officials of the town government as he was required to.

Huang Jilong, vice director of the county's animal inspection station, also ignored the incident. He didn't organize his staff to look into the bird deaths, or report the case to the county pasturage bureau.

Zou Gaoping, party secretary of Yangjia Town, and Zeng Jing, director of the county pasturage bureau, were also found negligent of not responding to the incident.

The Ministry of Agriculture confirmed the H5N1 avian flu outbreak on January 3. About 13,000 birds at the farm were killed to halt the spread of the deadly virus.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/05/11/277612/Sichuan_officials_dismissed_for_bird_flu.htm

 

[hawkeye]

Five Local Chinese Officials Fired for Mishandling Bird Flu Outbreak

Five Local Chinese Officials Fired for Mishandling Bird Flu Outbreak

Five Local Chinese Officials Fired for Mishandling Bird Flu Outbreak
By VOA News
12 May 2006


A woman and two geese in a remote rural area of Sichuan Province
A woman and two geese in a remote rural area of Sichuan Province
Five local officials in southwest China have been fired for mishandling an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu late last year.

China's state-run media say the officials in Sichuan province's Dazhu county failed to investigate reports of poultry deaths at a farm last December. The H5N1 strain killed nearly 2,000 birds there. The Health Ministry announced the outbreak in January.

The province later reported three human bird flu cases, two of whom died. The third, an eight-year old girl, is recovering.

China has vowed to be more open in reporting cases of bird flu following international condemnation over its handling of an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003. Chinese officials were accused of suppressing information about the outbreak.

SARS infected more than 8,000 people and killed almost 800, mostly in China, between late 2002 and mid-2003.