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More applications for SARS Trust Fund endorsed

The Committee on Trust Fund for SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) has recommended the approval of 297 applications, involving $73 million. Of these, 86 are applications from recovered SARS patients.

A spokesman for the committee today (February 13) said: "We are processing the applications from recovered and 'suspected' patients as soon as possible."

Since the establishment of the fund last November, the committee has met seven times to consider applications. Straightforward applications were dealt with promptly.

"The Hospital Authority (HA) would first carry out a medical assessment of applicants to establish whether they were suffering from the relevant dysfunction," the spokesman said.

"Those applicants certified to be suffering from the claimed dysfunction would have their claims of medical expenses processed by the Social Welfare Department (SWD). Only those who applied for monthly financial assistance would be required to undergo financial assessment," he said.

Payments for successful cases for recovered and "suspected" SARS patients would generally begin to count from the date of application, rather than the date of approval. This arrangement would minimise the impact of the processing time on the assistance provided to the successful applicants.

Because each case is different, the committee developed detailed eligibility criteria to allow flexibility, to keep the procedures to the minimum, and to widen the choices of successful applicants. These include:

* Only the assets of the applicant, not the other family members, will be taken into account in the asset test.

* Successful applicants are allowed to claim a range of medical-related expenses including direct expenses such as expenditure for medical services, allied health services, rehabilitation aids and services; and indirect expenses such as dietary supplements, related transport expenses and other justifiable expenses on a case-by-case basis. The committee has also set out simple guidelines to enable the SWD to process the applications efficiently.

* As regards medical services for treatment and rehabilitation, successful applicants would mainly use the services provided by the HA. But, if they wished to opt for private services, they could do so and the assistance would capped at the levels levied by the Hospital Authority for similar services.

"This should better address the needs of the SARS patients as well as allow them more choices," the spokesman added.

The $150 million Trust Fund for SARS was set up to provide financial assistance on compassionate grounds to three categories of applicants who were affected by the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong between March and June last year - families of deceased SARS patients; recovered SARS patients; and "suspected" SARS patients who had been treated with steroids, but subsequently found not to have SARS.

As of yesterday, a total of 714 applications had been received - 299 from the deceased category, 414 from recovered SARS patients, and one from a "suspected" patient treated with steroids.

Of the 297 cases approved, 211 are deceased cases and 86 are recovered cases. So far, 27 applications have been rejected.

Ends/Friday, February 13, 2004
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