Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) suffers from sleep apnea — a disorder in which breathing completely stops or is intermittent for periods of about 10 to 30 seconds — and paranoid delusions of being persecuted, Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) Superintendent Lin Fang-yue (林芳郁) said yesterday.
The imprisoned former president, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence for corruption, has been in the hospital since Sept. 21 for further examination.
The TVGH is a subordinate of the Veterans Affairs Committee. Lin was requested by lawmakers to present a report at a legislative Foreign and National Defense Committee meeting yesterday.
In response to a question by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) on whether Chen is suffering from sleep apnea and delusions of being persecuted, Lin said: “He has both.”
Lin added that the former president has recovered from a urinary tract infection and a slight fever.
“Do you know his current weight?” Chiu asked.
In response, Lin said Chen has lost 10 kilograms since being in prison, adding that the hospital hoped that better food provided by Chen’s family would improve his weight.
“As a medical expert, do you think Chen should be granted medical parole?” Chiu asked, to which Lin responded that medical parole could not be decided by doctors.
Lin added that a complete assessment of Chen’s health would be released in seven to 10 days.
The TVGH medical team will today also conduct a special report on Chen’s condition, at the invitation of the legislative Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
“All we know is that Chen’s health is deteriorating. It’s unfortunate that the hospital has failed to provide a clear report on the former president’s health despite it being an issue of public concern that has provoked much speculation,” Lin said.
Lin said the DPP is still calling for Chen to get medical parole.
Chen’s family have complained about not being updated on the former president’s health.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS