The Taipei City Government will offer free funerals for people who have donated their organs as part of a bid to encourage people to sign organ-donor cards, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) reported yesterday.
The government passed the measure on holding free funeral for organ donors on Tuesday. A health ministry funeral subsidy will go to the deceased who have donated their heart, kidney, liver and pancreas, but the city government intends to extend it to also cover those who have donated corneas, bones and skin, the report said.
If the organ donor is a Taipei resident, the city government will hold a free-of-charge memorial service, issue a citation and publicly praise the deceased organ donor.
Taipei hopes that hospitals can put the city government in touch with family members of the deceased who have donated organs.
It will be left up to family members to decide if the deceased should be publicly praised for their act of kindness.
Like many other countries, Taiwan faces a severe shortage of donated organs because people traditionally believe one should be buried or cremated with the body intact.
According to the Taiwan Organ Registry Matching Center, 6,000 people are on the waiting list for organ transplants, but each year there are only about 100 donated organs, which come mostly from road accident victims and other deceased people.
The lack of donated organs has prompted hundreds of patients, mostly liver and kidney patients, to go to China each year for organ transplants.
The Department of Health discourages organ transplant trips to China because many of the organs transplanted in Chinese hospitals are allegedly harvested from executed prisoners.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
Speeding and badly maintained roads were the main causes of a school bus accident on a rainy day in Taipei last year that severely injured two people and left 22 with minor injuries, the Taiwan Transportation and Safety Board said. On March 11 last year, a Kang Chiao International School bus overturned inside the Wenshan Tunnel (文山隧道) on the northbound lane of the Xinyi Expressway. The tour bus, owned by Long Lai Co, exceeded the speed limit after entering the tunnel, the board’s investigation found. Sensing that the rear of the vehicle was swaying, the driver attempted to use the service and exhaust
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
RSS