World Health Organisation guidelines for the treatment of suspected SARS cases were breached in the treatment of the Chinese woman at the centre of the latest SARS scare in Dublin.
The WHO confirmed yesterday its guidelines stated all suspect SARS cases should be hospitalised, and it had not issued any guidelines to the effect that suspected SARS cases could be treated in people's homes or in the community.
Yet a Chinese woman from Guangdong province in China, where the pneumonia-like virus began in November, was released from the A&E department of St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, on Friday evening with a mask and left to recuperate in a hostel in Dún Laoghaire.
She had arrived at the hospital hours earlier with flu-like symptoms, and was regarded as a suspect SARS case but was not admitted to hospital.
The Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) said the woman, who has since turned out not to have SARS, was "treated in accordance with best practice guidelines".
A spokesman for the hospital said guidelines issued earlier this month by the National Disease Surveillance Centre were followed.
They state that a suspect case should be hospitalised if they had had close contact with a probable SARS case, but if they just had a history of travel to an affected area they could be isolated at home.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, had said the test results had indicated the treatment of her case was "on target and correct".
He claimed the Department of Health had been very proactive in getting out "the proper guidelines and advices" to doctors in the community and in hospitals on how to manage and treat people with SARS-like symptoms.
However, WHO spokesman Mr Dick Thompson, in a statement to The Irish Times yesterday, said all suspect SARS cases should be hospitalised. "We have no guidelines on management of suspect cases where a possible diagnosis of SARS has not been excluded in the community. Contacts of suspect cases can be placed under passive surveillance in their homes, but not the suspect case."
Mr Martin did admit, however, that contingency plans for the management of the Chinese woman's case had failed.
Hospitals are expected, during the public health doctors' dispute, to immediately contact a 24-hour Department of Health hotline with details of any suspect SARS case.
However, Mr Martin said his department did not hear of this woman's case until Monday, three days after the case came to light at St Vincent's Hospital.
While the ERHA said tests on the woman proved negative for SARS, her condition is continuing to be monitored.