The legislature's Sanitation, Environment and Social Welfare Committee passed various amendments yesterday to legislation previously known as the AIDS Control Act (後天免疫缺乏症候群防治條例).
Despite concerns from a legislator who worried that the changes might be too far-reaching and thus undercut disease prevention, the committee managed to reach consensus on a slew of changes that bolster patients' rights.
The legislation will now be known as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention and Patients' Rights Protection Act (
"This change reflects our increasing understanding of the disease since the AIDS Control Act came into effect and makes the protection of patient's rights a central goal," said Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英), one of the legislators sponsoring the amendment.
Until now, foreign spouses who became infected with HIV could be deported from Taiwan regardless of circumstances, whereupon they could apply for re-entry.
Under one of the amendments passed yesterday, such individuals would be allowed to stay in the country as long as they can demonstrate they were infected by their Taiwanese spouse or in the course of receiving medical treatment in Taiwan.
Another group that stands to benefit are people who have Taiwanese citizenship at birth but never obtained residency in the country. Under the previous law, HIV could be grounds for denying such an individual residency.
The amended law would allow these individuals to obtain residency provided they have a close relative -- such as a parent, child, sibling, grandparent and grandchild -- living in Taiwan.
Privacy rights and access to treatment for all HIV-positive individuals will be safeguarded in the amendments, while language on existing statutes has been strengthened.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), however, questioned whether the protection of patients' rights might affect disease prevention efforts.
"Of course we should not ostracize HIV-positive individuals or deny them treatment, but we have to balance protection of their rights and disease prevention," said Ting, who supported a different version of the amendments.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese