Jasper Becker writes, SARS unmasks a wider scandal:

It is good that the Chinese government is grappling, albeit belatedly, with severe acute respiratory syndrome. But the real question is: What salutary lessons will the Chinese Communist Party draw from the spread of SARS?...

The arbitrary sacrifice of two senior party officials, Mayor Meng Xuenong of Beijing and Health Minister Zhang Wenkang - both punished for obeying party orders - is not necessarily a good sign. Meng and Zhang hid the real numbers of SARS patients because the party believed its power depended on hitting high economic growth targets and that nothing should interfere with this goal. The two officials were caught only because there happened to be an honest Chinese doctor who dared reveal the truth about the hidden SARS cases in Beijing.

...the party should extend its open market reforms by withdrawing from more public sectors, especially health and the environment, where its involvement has patently failed.

The half-baked reform of China's health system is nothing short of scandalous and the country is now paying for it. Peasants - who can least afford it - must shoulder their entire medical burden, while the wealthy party elite and state employees enjoy a lavishly subsidized health system that consumes most of the state health budget.

Only those who can afford to pay can expect treatment for SARS, AIDS or other modern plagues. The Communist Party should be taxing the rich to subsidize the poor, not the other way around.

Link via The Peking Duck.