Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was yesterday transferred to Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) from Taoyuan General Hospital for further check-ups and treatments. The transfer to the TVGH was met with objections by Chen’s family, who said the hospital was “politically affiliated” with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), his son, said the family would prefer that the former president be taken to Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei or to a hospital in southern Taiwan.
Chen Shui-bian, who arrived at the TVGH at 7:30am yesterday, refused to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test that the TVGH has arranged for him.
Photo: CNA
Chen Shui-bian later agreed to take the medical tests only after being comforted by TVGH physician Kuo Cheng-deng (郭正典) — who, at the request of the Chen family, has previously visited the former president at the Taoyuan General Hospital to examine his condition — in which Kuo said he would accompany the former president during the whole medical process.
Chen Tain-hsiung (陳天雄), TVGH’s vice superintendent, said the hospital has assigned a team comprising at least 10 urologists, neurologists and psychiatrists to examine the former president.
The examination would focus on his brain, cerebrovascular system and urinary tract using non-invasive methods such as MRI scans and ultrasounds, Chen Tain-hsiung said.
The former president, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence for corruption, was admitted to Taoyuan General Hospital on Sept. 12 after complaining of having difficulty urinating.
An MRI conducted at the Taoyuan hospital showed he had had a minor stroke.
Based on a recommendation by the Taoyuan General Hospital, the Ministry of Justice decided to transfer him to a different medical center for further examination.
Separately yesterday, human rights activists Hans Wahl and Harreld Dinkins, who arrived in Taipei to access the state of Chen Shui-bian’s human rights, held a press conference before leaving the country.
Dinkins said he was shocked by Chen’s slurred and unfocused speech and the unusual level of fatigue he showed during their 20–minute-long exchanges.
They also expressed concern over the selection of the TVGH because they had doubts over the facility’s independence given that it is a military hospital. In response to the Chen’s objections, Taipei Prison said in a statement yesterday that the TVGH has no political affiliation, adding that the hospital was selected mainly because it has advanced equipment and services, pointing out that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) has also been treated at the hospital.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
HIGH-TECH DEAL: Chipmakers that expand in the US would be able to import up to 2.5 times their new capacity with no extra tariffs during an approved construction period Taiwan aims to build a “democratic” high-tech supply chain with the US and form a strategic artificial intelligence (AI) partnership under the new tariffs deal it sealed with Washington last week, Taipei’s top negotiator in the talks said yesterday. US President Donald Trump has pushed Taiwan, a major producer of semiconductors which runs a large trade surplus with the US, to invest more in the US, specifically in chips that power AI. Under the terms of the long-negotiated deal, chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) that expand US production would incur a lower tariff on semiconductors or related manufacturing
RSS