The Beijing Union Medical College Hospital, a designated hospital for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients, provided 100 radios Sunday to patients and medical staff.
The hospital is also working with the telecommunication department for opening hotlines to SARS wards, said hospital director Qi Keming during the presentation ceremony.
The gift of the radios was a measure designed to keep isolated SARS patients and doctors and nurses in touch with the outside world and help ease their fear amid increasing concern over rising SARS infection in the Chinese capital.
"We don't want to make the hospital a jail for SARS patients," said Qi. "We are trying to help them remain relaxed and light-hearted because good spirits and psychological health are instrumental to recovery."
Qi said experts and volunteers will be organized to provide hotline counseling services for SARS patients and the general public.
Psychological factors greatly influence the function of the immune system, which has an impact on SARS patients' recovery, said Li Xuewang, vice director of the hospital.
The hospital has kept relatives of its SARS patients informed of the latest situation and will arrange special areas for patients to meet with their relatives.
A Beijing radio music channel will provide a daily one-hour hotline service from May 7 for SARS patients and their doctors and nurses, said the hospital's publicity department.
Listeners could dedicate songs for SARS patients and doctors, said the department.
(Xinhua News Agency May 4, 2003)
