The parents and doctors of an infant suffering from a rare genetic skin ailment appealed to the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) yesterday to fund the expensive specialized dressing necessary to prevent the baby's condition from deteriorating further.
Seven-month-old Gao Guan-yu (
Wang Ching-chia (王景甲), one of the doctors at National Taiwan University (NTU) taking care of Gao, told the press yesterday that Gao's condition is grave, with tissue damage that resembles serious burns all over his body.
The infected wounds have resulted in septicemia, or blood poisoning, Wang said.
Daily changes of specialized silicon-foam dressing sold under the trade name Mepilex are necessary to protect the baby's skin from trauma, he said.
However, such specialized dressings are currently only approved by the BNHI for some burn victims or in cases where damage to the skin exposes nerves, musculature or blood vessels.
NTU doctors submitted an advance request to the BNHI to utilize the dressing on Gao, but it was not approved.
"Such silicon-foam dressings are not on the list of medical supplies that need to be applied for in advance," said Chen Pao-kuo (
Chen said the BNHI had not previously received any word from doctors treating the ailment that silicon-foam dressings should be covered by the BNHI for this condition. However, he said that given the serious condition of Gao, a panel of experts will be convened as quickly as possible to discuss whether or not the dressing should be covered by the BNHI for this condition.
"I can't give you a timeline," Chen said. "I can only say it will be soon."
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS