Sustainable Living Hong Kong

She will probably forever be remembered for telling Hong Kongers “I eat chicken every day” when the bird flu scare broke out in 1997, but former Hong Kong director of health Margaret Chan’s handling of that and the SARS crisis was cited among the reasons behind her appointment as director-general of the World Health Organisation.

At the time of the appointment in 2006, she said she believed she was selected because “I have a strong record of being a straight talker …. I speak the truth to power.”

So while others might be accused of dressing up hypocrisy as politeness in complementing North Korea on its healthcare system, such a charge could not be levelled at her, right? All the more cringe-making that made the remarks she came up with following a visit there two months ago.

And now Amnesty International’s released a report that describes North Korea’s healthcare system as a “shamble”.

Chan’s remarks about North Korea followed WHO’s decision to declare swine flu an epidemic – on the advice of three scientists who had previously been paid by the pharmaceutical firms responsible for making the vaccines used to treat the disease.

Aiya.