The National Defense University was fined NT$1 million (US$31,878) for discriminating against a student with HIV and forcing him to drop out of school, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
After the university learned that the student, named A-li (a pseudonym), had tested positive for HIV during an annual health examination in early 2012, it asked him to keep his meal tray, eating utensils and clothes separate from those of other students and barred him from taking swimming classes, while teachers often suggested that he drop out of school.
The hospital that conducted the exam had given the university the test results without A-li’s consent.
He was expelled the following year, shortly before he was due to graduate, for bad conduct, including having a bad attitude and disrespecting teachers.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the CDC filing an administrative suit against the university over A-li’s case, but the Taipei High Administrative Court in March ruled in favor of the school in part because the university falls under the remit of the Ministry of National Defense, not the health ministry.
The health ministry and the CDC appealed the case to the Supreme Administrative Court in April.
As the lawsuit has continued for two years, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) sent a letter to the CDC last month, expressing concern about the case and citing verdicts of cases in four nations about the right to education for people with HIV/AIDS.
The CDC said it had decided to fine the university for contravening the HIV Infection Control and Patient Rights Protection Act (人類免疫缺乏病毒傳染防治及感染者權益保障條例).
CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said the fine is the first the agency has issued on the grounds of education discrimination, as well as the biggest fine it has ever imposed.
If the school is willing to reach an out-of-court settlement in the administrative suit with the health ministry over the case, the CDC would not issue the fine, Chou said.
However, if it continues to refuse to reinstate the student or reach an out-of-court settlement, it could be fined repeatedly, he said.
“We want to stress that we will not give up any chance of communicating, of achieving a win-win situation, or even a triple-win situation — meaning that the university, the student and the government agencies can all will in pursuing human rights for people with HIV/AIDS,” Chou said.
“If we cannot allow infected people to feel that they can expect a good future in society, then how can we expect them to accept HIV/AIDS screening and cooperate in HIV/AIDS prevention,” he said.
The university yesterday said that it “has never discriminated against people with HIV/AIDS and no student has been expelled from the school for having HIV/AIDS.”
A-li was punished because he had violated the school’s information security rules and did not achieve the minimum standard for morality grades, and he was expelled according to assessment guidelines and a resolution of its disciplinary committee, the school said.
Additional reporting by staff writer and CNA
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)