The Council of Labor Affairs plans to bring about 10,000 more foreign caregivers into Taiwan by raising the threshold for defining chronic patients, the Chinese-language media reported yesterday.
CLA Chairwoman Chen Chu (
Presently, only patients who score 20 or lower on the Barthel scale and are therefore defined as chronic patients, are allowed to apply for a foreign caregiver.
The Barthel scale is an index for determining the level of a patient's disability by considering whether they can carry out various basic functions, such as eating, combing hair, dressing and using the toilet.
The CLA tightened its threshold on foreign caregivers in July last year to stop people hiring foreign employees as caregivers and then forcing them to work in factories or do other work.
The directive was also in line with President Chen Shui-bian's (
The restrictions have prompted complaints from patients as well as the medical profession, which has demanded that the threshold be raised to 60.
The CLA's foreign labor office has been swamped by a flood of complaints from patients' families since September.
CLA officials said the complaints had put them under tremendous pressure at a time when government policy is geared toward reducing the number of foreign workers in the country.
Despite stricter rules, the number of foreign caregivers have actually increased by 15,000 since last July, officials said. In contrast, the number of foreign laborers in the manufacturing and construction industries has been cut.
Faced with public complaints, the officials said they had no choice but to gradually raise the threshold again and review the policy after a period of time.
If a patient is not qualified to apply for a foreign caregiver, family members will have to opt for a local caregiver at a cost of up to NT$70,000 per month, the Chinese-language media said yesterday.
First Lady Wu Shu-chen (
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