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Health officials to prepare Kinmen for 'small links'

Disease control officials plan to provide Kinmen hospitals training in disease inspection and prevention next week in preparation for "small three links" (小三通), which are scheduled to begin before the end of this year.

Since the opening of the "small three links" became unequivocal public policy, the Department of Health has been making preparations to deal with the impact that increased cross-strait ties may bring. In particular, health officials are worried about Chinese-born health epidemics unfamiliar to Taiwan.

Lee Ming-liang (李明亮), director-general of the health department, reported to the Executive Yuan yesterday that the department's budget for the next fiscal year would be more than NT$44 billion. Of that amount, NT$2.1 billion has been earmarked for national epidemic prevention.

The budget for disease inspection and prevention on Kinmen and Matsu was included in the budget, Lee said.

Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), director-general of the Center For Disease Control, said yesterday that exactly how much will be spent on disease inspection and prevention on Kinmen and Matsu "will hinge on the scale of the small three links."

The health department has allocated NT$5 million and NT$3 million to Kinmen and Matsu, respectively, for inspections of facilities and training, Twu said.

"We will set up at least two inspection stations on Kinmen and Matsu," he said. "And each station is slated to have eight experts in various fields of disease inspection and prevention." Twu said that at present, staff levels on the islands are far too low to handle potential medical problems and emergencies that could follow the implementation of the "small three links."

The recruitment plans are definite, "but how many people and where to recruit, locally or from Taiwan, also depends on the scale of the small three links," Twu said.
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