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Taiwan may allow practice by foreign doctors

Lawmakers from across party lines yesterday proposed amending the law to allow foreign doctors to provide medical treatment in Taiwan if necessary -- a move aimed at helping former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) receive the medical check-up he requires if the Japanese government refuses him a visa.

In an effort to bring to an end an incident that has disturbed relations between Taiwan, Japan and China, and out of humanitarian concern to solve Lee's medical problems, lawmakers raised the idea of amending current law to let foreign doctors practice in Taiwan. Under the Physicians' Law (醫師法), only the holders of licenses issued by Taiwan's government may practice medicine here.

"If the Japanese government insists on not issuing former president Lee a visa, the only solution would be for Japanese doctors to come to Taiwan," said KMT lawmaker Liu Kuang-hua (劉光華).

Endorsing Liu's views, People First Party lawmaker Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交) said that given Taiwan's disadvantaged standing in the international community, both incumbent and former presidents were effectively "grounded" in Taiwan because of pressure from China.

Hwang argued that medical expertise and specialization may vary from country to country and therefore, to prevent political factors from affecting the health of presidents, existing law should be amended.

To guarantee the right to medical treatment of both presidents and civilians, lawmakers suggested revising two stipulations -- the regulations for the treatment of former presidents, and those governing medical practice by foreign doctors.

In addition to benefits including salary, transportation, and housing enjoyed by former presidents, lawmakers suggested adding another stipulation to allow, with the approval of the Department of Health, former presidents and vice presidents to invite foreign doctors to come to Taiwan to provide them with medical treatment.

To uphold the medical rights of civilians, lawmakers also proposed adding another regulation, to the effect that in the case of a medical emergency which local medical skills and facilities are inadequate to handle, a foreign doctor may provide medical treatment in Taiwan upon obtaining special permission from the health department and an invitation from a local hospital.

Meanwhile, there have been conflicting responses to the question of whether Mitsudo Kazuaki, the doctor Lee plans to see in Japan for a follow-up examination, performed Lee's heart operation at National Taiwan University Hospital in November. Lee said at a press conference on Sunday that Kazuaki was the only person who knew where his five stents -- a device for dilating narrowed coronary arteries -- had been placed, implying that it was indeed the Japanese surgeon who performed the operation. The hospital said Kazuaki merely "supervised" the operation.
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