Current and former workers at Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) yesterday voiced their opposition to the appointment of Lin Fang-yue (林芳郁), former minister of the Department of Health, as the hospital's next superintendent.
The Executive Yuan's Veterans Affairs Commission announced Lin's appointment on Thursday. However, many of the hospital's current and former staff, including former TVGH superintendent Lo Kwang-juei (羅光瑞), are opposed to the change, saying the hospital had never in its 50-year history had a superintendent who was not promoted from within the Veterans General Hospital system.
Lin has already resigned from his job as a professor at National Taiwan University Hospital.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Lo and several other former TVGH department heads held a press conference yesterday to voice their opposition.
Also present at the conference was the commission's secretary-general, Cha Tai-chen (查台傳), who told Lo and the others that the commission had made its decision carefully, adding that Lin is a medical professional who could be trusted with leading the TVGH.
Cha's answer failed to quell the dissent, with Lo and the others asking: “Do you think the VGH doesn't have any talent [to fill the position]?”
Lo told reporters that while he considered Lin a good doctor, he hoped the staff at the hospital could be rewarded for their hard work with the opportunity to be promoted.
Lo said the appointment would hurt the hospital because the staff “won't know what they are working for” if the government appoints someone who has never served at the TVGH to lead them.
Speculation is rife that Lin's appointment may be a form of political compensation. At the start of the melamine scandal in September, Lin resigned as health minister to take responsibility for the Department of Health's much-criticized handling of the controversy over food imports from China tainted with melamine.
Lo said yesterday it was “preposterous” and “unreasonable” to base the decision for appointment on political grounds.
“Many current staff are afraid to say anything, so they have come to retired staff like us to help them voice their opposition,” said Han Shou-hwa (韓韶華), former chief of the hospital's medical research department.
They hoped Lin would reconsider taking the position, because it would be difficult for him to lead the hospital without support from the staff.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS