Doctors at the Union Hospital said they diagnosed a resident of the southern Taiwan port city as a suspected SARS case.

The resident, whose identity was withheld, visited the hospital in the afternoon.

He showed a typical SARS symptom of a high fever, doctors said. “He suffered from a 37.5 degree fever for two days before coming to us,” one doctor pointed out.

The Kaohsiung resident returned from a trip to China not long ago.

After the diagnosis, the patient was assigned to a pediatric ward, where a commotion took place.

Mothers of in-patient children complained about the treatment the hospital is giving the SARS case in isolation in the pediatric ward.