In the wake of a debacle surrounding the fixed-budget policy for hospitals, Chang Hong-jen (張鴻仁) stepped down from his position as deputy director of the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday, becoming the third former president of the Bureau of National Health Insurance to resign under a cloud.
"The protest is against me, not against the [National Health Insurance (NHI)] system," Chang said at a press conference yesterday, referring to the demonstration on Oct. 12 during which the Taiwan Community Hospital Association demanded his resignation.
Chang, the architect of the much-criticized policy, said that his resignation was an act of accountability.
Although both DOH Director-General Chen Chien-jen (
The Taiwan Community Hospital Association, the organization which initiated the protest last week, interpreted Chang's decision to step down as a gesture of goodwill from the government.
Association secretary-general Hsieh Wen-hui (
Chang said that he would continue to attend international seminars in his role as an academic, and that he would share his experience of managing the bureau.
Chang is the third official to step down over the controversial system for allocating insurance rebates. The bureau's first president, Yeh Chin-chuan (
While Chen expressed reluctance at letting Chang go, he said that the insurance system was not going to fall apart.
"I rely heavily on Chang," Chen said, "but every Tuesday morning we have a meeting to discuss the [insurance system], and I trust [new Bureau of National Health Insurance president] Liu Chien-hsiang (
Meanwhile, Kuo Hsu-sung (郭旭崧), Chang's old friend and classmate, yesterday reported for his first day of work as director-general of the Center for Disease Control.
Kuo served as the nation's health representative in Washington from 2002. At a modest ceremony yesterday morning, Kuo said that he would continue to expand the center's network of disease prevention beyond national borders.
To reinforce international co-operation, Kuo yesterday promised to strengthen Taiwan's ties with Japan and the US.
Kuo also said that he would position a seventh branch of the center as an offshore, mobile mechanism to "kill the enemy [viruses] offshore."
He said that the center should operate along the lines of a military organization.
"Our disease-prevention task force must act like troops, think in operational principles, and discipline themselves like soldiers," he said.
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