Aboriginal legislators yesterday demanded that the government improve its medical services in the nation's mountainous regions.
"If we don't see a marked improvement in the near future concerning the medical service in the mountainous regions, we will ask the Control Yuan to probe the matter for any government negligence," said independent Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) of the Atayal tribe.
Chin made the remark yesterday at a public hearing she held with KMT Legislators Tseng Hua-te (曾華德) and Yang Jen-fu (楊仁福) of the Paiwan and Amis tribes, respectively. The purpose of the hearing was to air issues concerning medical service in the nation's mountainous regions.
According to Chin, health clinics in these areas often lack up-to-date medical equipment and sufficient medical staff.
"Since the availability of health clinics in the mountainous regions are not as much as that in the cities, people often need to travel far in order to receive medical attention," Chin said.
"Those clinics definitely have an pressing need for advanced medical equipment to aid those seeking treatment who might otherwise have their medical treatment delayed because of having to travel a long distance," she said.
"The government needs to place a high importance on Aborigines' right to medical service," Chin added.
Most of Taiwan's 400,000 Aborigines live in scattered settlements in the mountains of eastern and southeastern Taiwan.
According to the information given by the Council of Aboriginal Affairs, a male Aborigine's average life span is 62.7 years while that of an average Taiwanese male is 72.7 years.
A female Aborigine's average life span is 72.3 years while that of an average Taiwanese female is 78.4 years.
In other words, a male Aborigine's life span, on average, is about 10 years shorter than that of non-Aboriginal males and that of the average female Aborigine is about six years shorter than that of the average non-Aboriginal female.
"Often times, people like to blame Aborigines' short life span on their [lifestyles]," Chin said, "or by saying that there's something in the Aborigines' genes that cause them to have shorter life span than that of the general public.
"But all such ideas are not true," she said. "It all rests on the fact that the government has not been taking good care of Aborigines with adequate medical services."
During the hearing, the Aboriginal legislators said that medical services in mountainous areas could be strengthened by training Aboriginal medical talents, promoting medical education among mountain residents and periodically updating the regions' medical equipment.
Agreeing with the legislators' concerns, Chen Chun-lin (陳俊陵) of the Amis tribe -- and a section head at the Council of Aboriginal Affairs -- said that the council has been working on the issue and that extending the Aborigines' general life span has been one of the priority on the council's agenda.
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