A cross-agency task force will be established to combat counterfeit drugs and medical products sold via underground radio stations, the Internet and night markets, the Executive Yuan and the Department of Health announced yesterday.
Premier Wu Dun-yih (吳敦義) told a briefing that he expects the taskforce to turn in a weekly report updating him on the progress of its efforts, starting next month.
The department said Taiwanese spend more than NT$30 billion (US$940 million) each year on dialysis or related treatments for renal failure caused mostly by counterfeit drugs purchased via underground radio stations, the Internet, street vendors, night markets, tour buses, sex-toy shops and some pharmacies.
“These unethical vendors make profits from selling fake drugs. Such behavior not only puts the public’s health at risk, it also further strains the national health insurance system,” Wu said.
Food and Drug Administration Director Kang Jaw-jou (康照洲) said vendors often take advantage of trusting buyers by exaggerating the efficacy of drugs and selling them at a low price.
The products range from hypertension drugs to skin rash ointments, the report said.
The task force will be made up of personnel from the National Police Administration, the Ministry of Justice, Coast Guard Administration, National Immigration Agency, the National Communications Committee and the health department.
Kang said the department set up its own mechanism to crack down on fake drug vendors, with less than ideal results.
Last year, only 102 cases were brought before courts and 283 manufacturers fined. The total fines collected totaled NT$110 million, he said, adding that in accordance with Wu’s request, the health department will push for an amendment to include harsher punishment for violators within three months.
The department held another public hearing yesterday about setting up special medical services zones catering solely to foreign patients. No consensus was reached during the four-hour meeting.
Health officials said the scheme could be profitable, but the Taiwan Healthcare Reform Foundation worried that the rights of low-income patients might suffer as doctors would prefer to see high-paying patients.
Deputy Minister of the Department of Health Chen Tzay-jinn (陳再晉) said last year foreign patients accounted for only 0.33 percent of patients treated, indicating that it would be possible to set up a special medical services zone without interfering with the access of local patients to healthcare.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching