■ Health
Flu shot program extended
Free flu shots are now available to all those under the age of three and above the age of 60 after health authorities decided to relax the age limits. Previously shots were only available to those below the age of two or above 65. "We have plenty of shots in stock" said Chou Chih-hao (周志浩), deputy director-general of the Center for Disease Control, "so we have decided to make the shots available to the next most vulnerable groups." The public have not been getting flu shots at the same rate as in previous years, Chou said, a fact which he attributed to the mildness of the weather so far this year.
■ Politics
Chen Chu misses photo
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) candidate for the Kaohsiung mayoral election, Chen Chu (陳菊), missed a planned meeting yesterday at which the president was supposed to endorse her. It had been arranged that Chen Chu would "run into" President Chen at an event at a trade and economy park in Kaohsiung, but the former arrived late, missing the president. While posing for photographs, President Chen gestured at Chen Chu's ballot number, No. 5, to indicate his support for her. Hung Chih-kun (洪智坤), Chen Chu's campaign manager, said that plans were underway for President Chen to campaign for Chen Chu. DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), meanwhile, said on Tuesday that he did not need any "big-shots" to stump for him. He conceded the next day, however, that he would welcome an endorsement from President Chen, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) or Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
■ Health
Lens solution recalled
Advanced Medical Optics Inc (AMO), the US maker of contact lens-related products, has announced a voluntary recall of two of its products over concerns that drops from its Chinese production facility are not thoroughly sanitized. "This is a voluntary recall," said Lin Shiow-jan (林秀娟), section chief at the Department of Health's Pharmaceutical Affairs Department. "We're glad to see that AMO has done the responsible thing." The two affected products are Complete Moisture Plus Multi-Purpose Solution, lot number ZB0391, and Complete Blink-N-Clean Lens Drops, lot number ZB02924. According to a department press release, AMO estimates that a total of 19,000 bottles of products were affected. Consumers should stop using the products and call 0800 300 007 to ask for an exchange or refund. The department said there had been no reports of adverse effects from anyone using the products in Taiwan.
■ Corruption
NHI under investigation
The Tainan District Prosecutors' Office sent three prosecutors to Taipei yesterday to gather evidence at the Bureau of National Health Insurance (NHI). The investigation concerns suspected corruption involving exaggerated pharmaceutical costs that possibly cost the NHI billions of dollars. The Central News Agency reported that the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office began investigating the case in May and has already collected evidence from numerous medical centers and pharmaceutical companies. Spokesman Wang Je-chau (王哲超) said the Department of Health would not comment on the issue until the situation was clarified. "They're collecting information on the case right now. It's not appropriate for us to comment," Wang said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching