Taipei City Hospital yesterday acknowledged flaws in the regulations of its human milk bank after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors lashed out at the hospital for rejecting the donation of breast milk from a woman from Cambodia. The hospital promised to consider revoking restrictions on donor nationality.
The city hospital established the nation’s first public human milk bank in December 2004 to provide breast milk to infants born prematurely or who have infectious diseases.
Earlier this month, a foreign woman from Cambodia planned to donate breast milk to the bank, but hospital staff rejected her donation and said the bank only accepted milk from those born in Taiwan.
“The human milk bank follows strict screening procedures to assure the health of potential donors, but not accepting milk donations from those with other nationalities is clearly racial discrimination,” DPP Taipei City Councilor Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) told a press conference yesterday.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-jie (梁文傑) joined Wu in questioning the city hospital’s regulations on breast milk donors, and demanded the hospital lift the restrictions on donor nationality.
The hospital’s milk bank requires donors to fill out a form detailing personal information and physical conditions. The hospital then conducts assessments on donors’ health and tests their blood samples, according to the hospital.
“Foreigners can donate blood in Taiwan so why can’t they donate breast milk? Are infants only allowed to drink milk that is made in Taiwan?” Liang said.
Fang Li-jung (方麗容), chief of the city hospital’s pediatrics department, yesterday denied any wilful attempt at racial discrimination by excluding foreigners from donating breast milk, and said limited experience in running a human milk bank and the language barrier had been the real factors behind the ban.
“The standard screening procedures for breast milk are complicated, and due to our limited experience in running a human milk bank back in 2004, we decided to limit eligible donors to Taiwanese nationals,” she said.
Because the human milk bank has now been in place for seven years, Fang said the city hospital will propose revoking the ban on foreigners donating breast milk in July during its regular meeting with experts and was likely to allow foreigners to make donations upon receiving approval in the meeting.
The human milk bank is the only government-sponsored milk bank in Taiwan and has collected more than 11,091 liters of breast milk since its foundation eight years ago.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS