Health chief hands in resignation

Department of Health chief Lee Ming-liang (李明亮) yesterday announced that he would leave the post on Sept. 1 as Premier Yu Shyi-kun had approved his resignation on Friday night.

Lee, who had first mentioned his intention to resign in February when Yu was organizing the Cabinet line-up, tendered the resignation to Yu again in July, revealing his will to leave the position at the end of August.

"I am determined to leave the office not only because of my own health reasons but also because the mission of the National Health Insurance (NHI) reform has been fulfilled at the current stage and the new school semester is about to start, " Lee said at a press conference yesterday at the DOH.

Lee is currently on a two-year leave from the Buddhist Tzu-Chi University in Hualien City where he served as its president for nearly eight years before he was invited by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to lead the nation's top health organization in May 2000.

The 66-year-old Lee has been suffering from asthma and high blood pressure.

At the press conference, Lee repeatedly stressed that the president and the premier had tried to persuade him to stay in the office, refuting speculation that Lee sacrificed his position for the government's planned raise in the NHI premiums from Sept. 1.

"The timing of the planned hike in the NHI fees and my resignation is merely a coincidence," Lee said, emphasizing that the policies regarding the reform of the NHI program have been carefully considered.

"During the process of negotiation and consideration, the president and the Executive Yuan have given the department full support and ultimate trust," Lee said.

After his resignation, Lee said that he would first return to Tzu Chi University to resume teaching but would not hold an administrative post at the university.

As to who would be his successor, Lee, though he admitted that he has recommended a few possible candidates to the premier, refused to give any comment yesterday, saying that the Executive Yuan would be the one with the authority to choose the right person for the post.

"It's time for somebody younger to lead the department. My successor must have a healthy body because the work in the DOH is tough and extremely complicated," said Lee, telling reporters that he has been working 15 to 16 hours a day since he became the head of the department.

Speculation has prevailed that the DOH's 51-year-old incumbent deputy minister, Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), is the leading candidate to replace Lee because of his close ties to the president.

Twu, former director-general of the Center for Disease Control, only succeeded Huang Fu-yuan (黃富源) nearly two months ago and Twu would be the acting health minister after Lee leaves the DOH.

Premier Yu yesterday confirmed that he approved Lee's resignation with reluctance on Friday night.

"He told me that he's afraid his health won't allow him to continue the job for another two years and he's mentioned this to me more than once," said Yu.

Regarding potential candidates to replace Lee, Yu said that he needs two or three days to think about it.

Yu also gave high marks to Lee, who he said had a lot of guts to push for reforms, especially the NHI scheme.

"Despite his departure, the revised scheme will go into effect as planned on Sept. 1," Yu said.

with additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling, staff reporter