Several medical associations issued a joint statement yesterday opposing a bill that would allow overseas-educated chiropractors to be certified without having to take certification tests.
Taiwan Medical Association president Wu Nan-her (
"Legislators should not customize the laws simply for the few who are educated overseas," Wu said. "Say someone goes abroad to study feet, does that mean there should be laws protecting the interests of podiatrists as well?"
Wu said Department of Health officials have been reluctant to express a clear opinion on the matter.
"Both the Minister of Health and the chief of the department of medical affairs are doctors -- they know [the bill] is wrong," Wu said. "But they have to hold public hearings anyway because of the pressure from the legislators."
Before diagnosing spinal problems, chiropractors should first exclude other potential causes such as tumors, fractures or infections, Wu said.
But chiropractic training does not include the study of internal medicine, and chiropractors are therefore unqualified to make medical diagnoses, Wu said.
He said it would confuse the public if chiropractors were treated like doctors.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (
"I just want to say [to chiropractors supporting the bill]: Please take the certification exam in Taiwan," Lai said.
Physical Therapy Association general-secretary Wendy Wang (王子娟) said that as someone with a doctorate in physical therapy, she could not agree with the bill's proposals.
Pointing to a statement downloaded from the Taiwan Chiropractic Doctors' Society's Web page about the treatment of lower-back pain, Wang said that chiropractors attempt to associate all symptoms with spinal problems.
"I am sure chiropractors could find a way of diagnosing someone with low immunity as having spinal problems," Wang said. "What they are doing is confusing the public on the difference between orthodox medical treatment and alternative treatments."
The vice chairman of the Taiwan Chiropractic Doctors' Society, Chen Chia-en (
Chen has previously said that the government's failure to establish a workable certification system for chiropractors had led to an increase in illegal practitioners.
An unnamed chiropractor was quoted in the same report as saying that the WHO recognizes chiropractic treatment.
As a certified physical therapist locally and a certified chiropractor in the US, he has four years of medical school training and four more years of chiropractic training, the man said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
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
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai