Three DPP lawmakers with clinical-practice experience called for the restructuring of the country's medical system, perceiving a flaw within the existing framework that sparked off the SARS outbreak.
"The outbreak of the flu-like illness severely hit the country partially because of the long-time neglect of medical research and training at the infectious disease department," Chien Chiao-tung (
Chien, who held a press conference with his fellow DPP Legislators Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Friday, said that urgent reinforcement of infection technology is needed to halt the spreading disease.
All three lawmakers are experienced medical professionals.
The hospital management system must improve its training as well as aid for personnel at the infectious diseases department by doubling the manpower and improving clinical protection for personnel on duty, Chien, formerly a thoracic doctor and a hospital superintendent in Taichung County, said.
Chien explained that, "the infectious departments are unappreciated in most hospitals in civilized countries because modern society has been far removed from life-threatening epidemic transmissions following the development of more advanced medicines in the 21st century."
And this demonstrated that, before the pneumonic disease surfaced, hospital administrations tended to treat their infectious departments as secondary subdivisions with the minimum personnel, the least cost accounting and protective measures and even the poorest payment rules within the national health insurance service.
He said that hospitals around the country usually deploy only one doctor to the infectious department and the maximum nursing staff dispatched to the department is four.
"The outbreak of SARS undoubtedly created the harshest challenge to the infectious manpower reserve because of their lack of combat capability," Chien said.
The lawmakers advised enlisting the military forces to help fight the epidemic. The worsening infection was a warning that the civil medical system had been unable to win the battle against the rampant disease on its own, they said.
The battle against the SARS virus should be upgraded to a mission of biochemical war. Military hospitals should take over the command of centralized medical treatment and hospitalization, while dozens of the DOH-supervised hospitals around the country need to modify their roles in support of the leading general hospital, they said.
"The military medical forces must contribute to epidemic control with its high-speed mobilization capability and biochemistry training," Chien said.
They said the Tri-Service General Hospital of Taipei should mastermind the national SARS-prevention and cure scheme and be declared the centralized treatment base for all SARS patients and suspected cases.
The other 19 army hospitals and clinics scattered around the country can serve as preliminary bases for epidemic sampling tests and temporary centralized infirmaries for cases showing SARS-related symptoms.
Chen Chi-mai, formerly a doctor in charge at Chang Guan Memorial Hospital, demanded the speeding up of the recruitment of supplemental staff to relieve hard-pressed medical personnel. "The required quarantine for medical personnel having contact with SARS patients increased the workload of the limited amount of frontline doctors and nurses," he noted.
The administration should inaugurate standard operation procedures (SOP) for treatment of an epidemic, said Lai, who used to be a physician at National Cheng Kung University Hospital, stressing that modifying diagnostic procedures need to on while the government is pushing for a NT$50 billion special budget to curb the illness.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS