World Health Organization (WHO) experts in Taiwan have again raised concerns about the community spread of SARS and the infection-control measures in hospitals. At the same time, the news media report daily on the people who willfully disregard quarantine orders and others who are resorting to do-it-yourself masks because of a reported severe shortage of medical masks.
Taken together, these stories suggest that the biggest problem in the government's handling of the SARS epidemic thus far has been the lack of effective and coordinated enforcement and implementation mechanisms.
It is true that -- with ever-changing developments in the spread of the disease -- ?this is not the time to point fingers and cast blame. Cooperation and unity among all levels of the government are imperative to get the job done.
However, that does not mean that scrutiny and examination of what has gone wrong can wait until later. After all, only by first recognizing and identifying mistakes can one learn to improve. If these errors are not pointed out, the government will only repeat the mistakes over and over again, and all hope of a victory in the battle against SARS will be lost.
Many agree that the Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital was where the first major defeat in the fight against SARS was suffered and from where things went rapidly downhill. Because the hospital did not adopt strict measures to prevent infection, members of the medical staff were infected by SARS patients. For the same reason, infected personnel further spread the disease within the hospital. This reveals a major shortcoming in the disease-control measures of the hospital.
Worse yet, the hospital allegedly had failed to issue proper alerts and notifications to hospitals where suspected SARS patients were transferred to. As a result, other hospitals did not have the opportunity to adopt extra precautions in treating these patients, thereby exposing their medical staff to the risk of infection.
For example, the National Taiwan University Hospital's zero-death record was spoiled by the death of a SARS-infected man who had previously sought medical treatment at the Hoping Hospital. Yet, the univeristy hospital was clueless about the man's contact with Hoping -- which would have alerted them about potential SARS infection -- until they checked his National Health Insurance card. This reveals major loopholes in the mechanism for tracing and reporting SARS infections.
The enforcement of quarantine is another major problem. For example, in the case of the Hoping Hospital, people sealed off in the hospital were allegedly at serious risk of cross-infection among themselves as a result of a shortage of protective gear and a lack of internal segregation based on the level of their exposure and potential exposure to the SARS virus.
In addition, many people who were place under home quarantine defied their quarantine orders and simply went about their usual business.
Minister of Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (
Premier Yu Shyi-kun spoke the truth yesterday when he said that people need to stop asking "Who is to blame for this?" and start asking "What can be done to close the loophooles?"
The other question is, "Can this country learn from its mistakes?"
Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in late February. During their various meetings with Taiwan’s leaders, this delegation never missed an opportunity to emphasize the strength of their cross-party consensus on issues relating to Taiwan and China. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi are leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Their instruction upon taking the reins of the committee was to preserve China issues as a last bastion of bipartisanship in an otherwise deeply divided Washington. They have largely upheld their pledge. But in doing so, they have performed the
It is well known that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) ambition is to rejuvenate the Chinese nation by unification of Taiwan, either peacefully or by force. The peaceful option has virtually gone out of the window with the last presidential elections in Taiwan. Taiwanese, especially the youth, are resolved not to be part of China. With time, this resolve has grown politically stronger. It leaves China with reunification by force as the default option. Everyone tells me how and when mighty China would invade and overpower tiny Taiwan. However, I have rarely been told that Taiwan could be defended to
It should have been Maestro’s night. It is hard to envision a film more Oscar-friendly than Bradley Cooper’s exploration of the life and loves of famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. It was a prestige biopic, a longtime route to acting trophies and more (see Darkest Hour, Lincoln, and Milk). The film was a music biopic, a subgenre with an even richer history of award-winning films such as Ray, Walk the Line and Bohemian Rhapsody. What is more, it was the passion project of cowriter, producer, director and actor Bradley Cooper. That is the kind of multitasking -for-his-art overachievement that Oscar
Chinese villages are being built in the disputed zone between Bhutan and China. Last month, Chinese settlers, holding photographs of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), moved into their new homes on land that was not Xi’s to give. These residents are part of the Chinese government’s resettlement program, relocating Tibetan families into the territory China claims. China shares land borders with 15 countries and sea borders with eight, and is involved in many disputes. Land disputes include the ones with Bhutan (Doklam plateau), India (Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin) and Nepal (near Dolakha and Solukhumbu districts). Maritime disputes in the South China