CIVIL SERVICE
Pay raise to be mulled
The government will make a decision this month on whether to increase salaries for public servants, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said. Wu said pay raises would be determined by the level of economic growth in the fourth quarter of last year, the economic climate both domestically and abroad, and the government’s tax revenue in the first quarter of this year. Tax revenue data is to be released on Wednesday. Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) estimated on Thursday that the government’s tax revenue for the first quarter of this year would be more than the same period last year. In January and February, the government collected NT$171.9 billion (US$5.91 billion), more than the NT$143.7 billion from the same period in 2009, according to Ministry of Finance data.
HEALTH
Workers receive awards
Pediatricians, nurses and hospitals were recognized by a social service organization yesterday for their dedication to the care of young patients. The awards were established by the Raising Children Medical Foundation in 2003 to honor the work of outstanding medical professionals and institutions involved in pediatric healthcare. In presenting the awards, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said that children’s health is of vital importance to the wellbeing of society, therefore medical workers in the field should be applauded for their unwavering patience and hard work. One of the recipients of the award, nurse Yang Shu-ho (楊淑賀), said caring for a child means looking after the whole family. “You not only take care of the child, you also educate the parents on how to avoid stress and be there for their child,” Yang said.
SPORT
2017 games bid still on
Taichung’s bid to host the East Asian Games in 2017 has not faced any opposition from China so far, Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) said yesterday. Hu had originally planned to travel overseas this month to lobby for the city’s bid. He said the trip was cancelled because the East Asian Games Association is set to postpone the selection meeting for the 2017 host to a yet to be specified date in August or September. The East Asian Games, held every four years, is a regional sports event in which nine countries and territories participate — China, Hong Kong, Macau, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Guam, Mongolia and Taiwan. Hong Kong hosted the event in 2009, and Tianjin in China has been chosen to host the games in 2013.
MEDICINE
Labeling remains poor
The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday urged stronger government oversight of pharmaceutical instructions on medical products. The foundation issued the call following an inspection of 18 types of enteric-coated medication containing Aspirin that found more than 50 percent did not include warnings against taking the medication with alcohol, while 27.8 percent did not include warnings for people with Ramsay-Hunt syndrome. Although the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法) stipulates a maximum fine of NT$150,000 for failing to list potential side-effects, warnings and precautions in pharmaceutical product instructions, the foundation said its findings suggested such penalties remain inadequate. The foundation also proposed that the authorities include a list of side-effects particular to Asia or local areas, as well as writing warnings with a larger font or in different colors for maximum visibility.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
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
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