DOH chief is focused on patients

However, Twu said school education is not enough to develop doctors' care for patients.

"I maintain that medical students should not choose their specialties immediately after graduation. They should spend a year practicing in several fields," Twu said.

"When a doctor treats a disease, what he faces is not only an organ or a body part. He needs to understand the patient's heart, because many diseases are caused by mental problems," Twu said.

Causes of disease

He added that a doctor needs to learn how to cope with psychosomatic diseases.

"Moreover, if doctors can further trace the causes of their patients' diseases, they will often discover their patients' illnesses are related to their family problems," he said.

"The best doctor heals a nation. The average doctor heals a person. The bad doctor heals a disease. My expectation is that a good doctor should be able to heal at least a family," Twu said.

At Twu's inauguration ceremony, Mackay Memorial Hospital Vice Superintendent Huang Fu-yuan (黃富源), who once served as deputy director-general of the DOH, said being director-general of the department is a difficult job.

"Whoever does the job will feel overwhelming pressure from all sides. The job is particularly difficult now as the political circumstances are complicated," Huang said.

Huang, who spared no effort to help Twu, said the current director-general has three great assets.

"First, he has a solid academic background. Second, he has a good character. Third, he is able to handle pressure," Huang said.

Asked about how he copes with pressure, Twu said it is his philosophy to look at the good side of all things.

"For example, lawmakers often bombard me in the legislature. But I have learned to treat their attacks in a positive way," Twu said.

Twu said lawmakers' criticism can actually serve as a good means to push DOH officials to work harder.

"Difficult times are opportunities for improvements," he said.