Doctors criticise preparations for bioterrorist attacks

Doctors are worried about the inadequate arrangements for caring for patients in the event of a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack or in other public health emergencies such as an epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

One health trust, according to a representative, told its GPs that at the start of a SARS outbreak they should go to a builders' supplier to buy protective masks and to hold consultations with patients by shouting through the letterbox.

Dr Simon Eccles, a …