■ TRANSPORT
One dead in MRT fall
Operations on Taipei City’s MRT Red and Blue lines were temporarily suspended yesterday after two passengers fell from different platforms at Mingde and Ximen stations. The Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said that a male passenger fell from the platform at Mingde Station at 5:40pm, followed by a similar incident in which a female passenger fell from the platform at Ximen Station at 5:46pm. The passenger at Mingde Station was rushed to Taipei Veteran’s General Hospital where he later died, while the passenger at Ximen Station was sent to Taipei Hoping Hospital for treatment. The company said police were investigating whether the two passengers tried to commit suicide or fell from the platforms accidentally. The two lines resumed full operation at 6:15pm, the firm said.
■ HEALTH
Pap tests well received
An initiative launched on Mother’s Day this year to encourage low-income women to have pap smears has proved successful, the Bureau of Health Promotion said on Monday. As of Aug. 31, 5,978 women over the age of 30 who had not had a pap smear in at least three years had been tested under the program, the bureau said in a statement. Of the total number of women tested, 2,095 had not had a pap smear in 10 years, while 1,612 had not been screened in 15 years, the bureau said. Sixty-seven of the women had positive pap smears, which detect premalignant or malignant cells in the cervix. The 1.12 percent detection rate was higher than the 0.6 percent recorded in the national pap smear campaign last year, the bureau said. Encouraged by the results of the campaign, the bureau said it had decided to extend the closing date from Sept. 30 to Oct. 31.
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