Hospitals

Hospitals are as dangerous as mines and factories, reports a special commission created to look into hospital health and hygiene. Lessons aren’t being learned, and any hospital could be the site of a major pandemic.

These predictions come from a special commission set up by the government of Ontario, Canada, following the deaths of 44 patients from SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) at a Toronto hospital in 2003.

So far, just five of the 25 recommendations made by the SARS Commission have been implemented. “Serious problems persist and much remains to be done,” the Commission has stated. Heading the Commission was Ontario judge Archie Campbell, who commented: “If we do not learn from SARS and we do not make the government fix the problems that remain, we will pay a terrible price in the next pandemic” (Lancet, 2007; 369: 264).

Hospitals

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