I am rather amazed by Fair Minded's letter attacking the Malaysian Medical Association for advising the public to be vary of any claim of cure for Sars.

As far as I know, this is a new epidemic which is still not quite understood by anyone, be they allopathic or homeopathic practitioners. How then can anyone claim to have answers to this new killer disease?

Is the public to be left to the mercy of those claiming to have a cure. Medical practitioners are toiling day and night to find answers and remedies to Sars. In Hong Kong and China, cooperation between allopathic practitioners and traditional o­nes have shown some ability to help cure some of the patients. These sinsehs (traditional Chinese medicine practitioners) there never come out claiming to have the answer.

Whether the MMA's advise to the public is reasonable or not, I still think the authority should come down hard o­n unscrupulous individuals capitalising o­n the fear and danger of this new viral infection. If there is an answer to the disease, the health authorities should be let o­nto the secret, so that no more lives are lost.