In an effort to encourage organ donation, the Department of Health will consider placing information about organ donors on the National Health Insurance's integrated-circuit (IC) cards.
According to departmental records, organ-donation cards have been issued to 400,000 people who gave permission for their organs to be donated. Because the plan is still at a preliminary stage, the department is planning to gauge support for the idea, beginning with the organ donors themselves.
"During the planning stages for the insurance IC cards, we had considered putting organ donation data on the same card," said Bureau of Medical Affairs Deputy Director Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元).
"In future, doctors will know just by looking at IC-card data if the patient is a donor," Hsueh said. "However, doctors will still be required to confirm consent for organ donation with family members."
In related news, the department's National Health Insurance Task Force recently released a study showing that 80 percent of people in the National Health Insurance scheme were happy with the program.
Approval ratings were highest among people aged 20 to 29, the study said.
"The most recent poll has found that 80.1 percent of those polled were satisfied with the insurance program. However, 12.6 percent found it unsatisfactory," task force vice chairperson Wang Yi-ren (王怡人) said.
While the 20-to-29 age bracket saw approval ratings of 87.8 percent, only 19.7 percent of the 40-to-49 age bracket were happy with the program. The 60-to-69 age bracket enjoyed an 83.3 percent approval rating, however.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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