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Most flu cases don't need hospital treatment

Around 57 percent of hospital visits made last year by people suffering from the common cold were unnecessary, the Bureau of National Health Insurance says.

Bureau officials made the remarks on Tuesday to highlight the overuse of hospital resources for minor ailments, a situation that has taken a heavy toll on the cash-strapped bureau.

The officials noted that the bureau spent NT$25 billion (US$762.19 million) on treating influenza and upper respiratory tract diseases last year. Taiwanese visited hospitals an average of 14.8 times each year, with 3.61 of those visits because of the common cold.

However, according to a survey conducted by the bureau on 237 people aged 18 and older who last year visited medical centers, regional hospitals or local hospitals for upper respiratory tract ailments, only 43 percent required the services of a hospital.

Hsu Chung-yi (許忠逸), a section chief at the bureau, said that it reimburses medical centers NT$572 for each visit by people diagnosed with the common cold, while local clinics receive NT$553 for each cold-related visit.

The bureau calculated that it spends about NT$2,000 per person per year to treat the common cold. It said that more than half of these visits were unnecessary.

Hsu said that people should only visit a hospital for treatment for what they believe to be a common cold if they have been experiencing a high fever for more than three days, experience difficulty breathing, have had a runny nose for more than one week, or suffer from acute pain in the stomach, lymph glands in the neck, or the ears.

In related news, the Center for Disease Control warned yesterday of a sharp increase in cases of influenza in Hong Kong last month.

The number of flu cases reported in Hong Kong by private doctors last month was 78.9 cases per 1,000 patients, while clinics reported 11.9 cases per 1,000, the center said.

The figures showed 95.5 percent of the 222 samples tested by the Hong Kong Center for Health Protection involved the H1N1 type A virus, while 2.7 percent were infected by the type B virus.

The center called on the public to be alert to the possibility of catching the flu, since many Taiwan-ese visit Hong Kong every summer.

additional reporting by flora wang
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