The quality of hospitals' control of "hospital transmission" of SARS is self-evident in light of the deaths of several medical workers after attending SARS patients.
Data on this epidemic prove that SARS is mostly spread within hospitals or households. Therefore, to stop the disease from spreading further, we have to make sure that medical institutions can screen SARS patients in a timely manner, quarantine them, treat them and completely stop hospital transmissions from happening.
Unfortunately, in the Department of Health's report to the Legislative Yuan -- submitted on May 12, International Nurse's Day -- the first priority was detection and reduction of SARS patients from overseas, and the prevention of hospital transmissions was listed as the last priority. Today, probable SARS cases reported from Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital, Jen Chi Hospital and Taipei Municipal Chung Hsing Hospital account for almost 60 percent of the total probable cases here.
However, the department is still unable to analyze its short-comings and raise the prevention level of all medical institutions to the maximum in order to accom-plish Premier Yu Shyi-kun's goal of ending hospital transmissions.
No surprise, the idea that "SARS prevention is a war" is merely a slogan for the department. Health authorities' ignorance of the urgency of hospital-transmission control will also become the biggest problem in the nation's SARS prevention.
When SARS patients first fall ill, most of them only have a high fever and may not necessarily have other symptoms. If the department only requires those SARS-specialized hospitals appointed by the Cabinet to launch a third-degree prevention system, isn't it assuming that every patient is fully capable of telling whether he or she has SARS, and that everyone is 100 percent sure about which hospital is a SARS-specialized hospital? Who will take the responsibility when hospital transmission is caused by a SARS patient who is not clear about his or her own illness and consults a doctor at a regular hospital?
Another major mistake is that, after hospital transmissions occurred at several large hospitals, the department still passed the supervision of hospital transmission to the local governments which are incapable of the task. The last of the department's SARS prevention measures clearly states that it's necessary to strengthen the prevention of group transmissions in hospitals.
But the content of the measure in fact only requires hospitals to set up isolation wards in proportion to the numbers of their beds and provides the principles for handling a probable transmission inside hospitals. But the department has no policy on how to truly strengthen the prevention of SARS transmissions in hospitals at all.
Such misconduct by top health officials is a violation of the Communicable Disease Prevention Law (傳染病防治法). The department has completely neglected its duty as the nation's highest health agency and ignored the lives and health of the people.
Therefore, to prevent hospital transmissions from taking more lives, the Cabinet should inform each and every medical center to launch a third-degree prevention system right away.
The department should certainly make the prevention of hospital transmissions a priority. It should come up with a standard operating procedure for receiving and treating SARS patients, and provide medical workers with sufficient prevention facilities and equipment. Taiwan will be unable to bear the consequences if the kind of massive SARS outbreak that occurred at Hoping Hospital occurs at another hospital.
Su Wei-shuo is the executor of the Taiwan Medical Alliance Association.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
As Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s party won by a landslide in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it is a good time to take another look at recent developments in the Maldivian foreign policy. While Muizzu has been promoting his “Maldives First” policy, the agenda seems to have lost sight of a number of factors. Contemporary Maldivian policy serves as a stark illustration of how a blend of missteps in public posturing, populist agendas and inattentive leadership can lead to diplomatic setbacks and damage a country’s long-term foreign policy priorities. Over the past few months, Maldivian foreign policy has entangled itself in playing
A group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers led by the party’s legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (?) are to visit Beijing for four days this week, but some have questioned the timing and purpose of the visit, which demonstrates the KMT caucus’ increasing arrogance. Fu on Wednesday last week confirmed that following an invitation by Beijing, he would lead a group of lawmakers to China from Thursday to Sunday to discuss tourism and agricultural exports, but he refused to say whether they would meet with Chinese officials. That the visit is taking place during the legislative session and in the aftermath