Hospitals saw revenues drop by over 50 percent last month after SARS clusters in several facilities kept all but the bravest people away from doctor appointments.
"In addition to over 50 percent revenue losses in May, National Taiwan University Hospital has spent over NT$100 million treating more than 200 SARS patients," hospital Vice Superintendent Hsu Su-ming (
Clinic visits at the facility plummeted after the outbreak of SARS in late April.
National Taiwan University Hospital -- the nation's leading hospital in treating SARS victims -- on average, saw only 2,000 to 3,000 patients a day last month -- down from 7,000 patients per day before the virus outbreak, Hsu said.
Its revenue losses are estimated to be in the hundred of millions of NT dollars after it took in the nation's first SARS patient in mid-March.
Hsu, however, said that after the nation began to contain SARS this month, the hospital began to see more people coming for treatment and now has about 4,000 appointments per day.
Although the government has promised to compensate hospitals for their losses stemming from treating SARS patients, National Taiwan University Hospital has been too busy to file a claim and so hasn't received any subsidies yet, Hsu said.
According to a local media report, large hospitals such as National Taiwan University Hospital, Veterans General Hospital and Mackay Memorial Hospital were hardest-hit by SARS, suffering revenue drops of at least 30 percent last month.
The report speculated that big hospitals might have incurred NT$6 billion in total losses last month, although it failed to provide details on the number of hospitals.
Officials at the Department of Health and the Bureau of National Health Insurance yesterday refused to confirm the report's accuracy, saying that figures will only be available after the SARS-affected hospitals complete their health insurance claims later this month.
Municipal hospitals, such as Taipei Municipal Jen Ai Hospital and Jen Chi Hospital, were also badly hit by the virus and suffered a 10 to 20 percent decline in business last month, according to the report.
After taking in 34 SARS patients, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Keelung saw a 30 percent decline in business last month, losing over NT$40 million in one month according to administrative supervisor Tai Hsin-yeh (
Early this month, however, the hospital's business began to recover, seeing only a 15 percent decline, Tai said.
To weather the SARS impact, he said that the hospital has encouraged its medical staff to take vacations or combine their practices.
The epidemic has also affected small clinics which have not been treating SARS cases.
The University Eye Center, which specializes in corrective laser eye surgery, saw business decline by 20 to 30 percent according to its marketing manager, Chen Jung-jay (陳榮杰).
Chen said that the center had treated many patients who suffered from eye disorders and required immediate care, but those seeking corrective surgery have been taking a wait-and-see approach before scheduling appointments.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
NOT OVERLY PESSIMISTIC: While consumer electronics demand remains volatile, MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai said that tariffs would have limited effect on the company Chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said revenue this quarter would contract by 4 percent sequentially in the worst-case scenario on softer smartphone demand. Revenue is expected to be between NT$147.2 billion and NT$159.4 billion (US$4.6 billion-US$4.98 billion), compared with NT$153.31 billion last quarter, the company said. MediaTek said demand for smartphone chips would be flat or slide sequentially this quarter, while demand for smart devices and power chips would go up. Mobile phone chips made up 56 percent of the company’s total revenue last quarter. Gross margin of 46 to 49 percent is forecast for this quarter, compared with 48.1 percent last