The Department of Health (DOH) is stepping up its plan to make automated external defibrillators (AED) available in public places nationwide, hoping to install 44 of the devices per every 100,000 people by 2015.
Promoting the plan at a news conference at Taipei Railway Station yesterday, Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) said the automated defibrillators were easy to operate and could help save lives.
Equipping domestic ambulances with AEDs has already improved survival rates for people who suffer sudden heart attacks in Taiwan to 5 percent from less than 1 percent, he said.
Based on the experience of the US, Japan and Europe, the survival rate could be further improved to more than 30 percent if AEDs are more widely installed in public places, he said.
According to the health minister, about 20,000 people in Taiwan suffer sudden heart attacks each year, and if the AEDs could save up to 15 percent of them, it would mean saving 3,000 lives.
However, he stressed that the more rapid the response, the more effective the devices are. If the device is applied to people with sudden heart failure within one minute of when their heart stops beating, the rate of resuscitation is as high as 90 percent, Chiu said.
However, the survival rate drops by between 7 and 10 percentage points with each passing minute.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said on the same occasion that the health department has set a goal of installing 44 AEDs for every 100,000 people, which would exceed the ratio in Germany and the UK and match the level found in Australia. Taiwan has already installed 15.2 defibrillators per 100,000 people, many of them on public buses.
The department announced on May 23 that it intends to install the defibrillators on long-distance transportation vehicles, in tourist spots, schools, shopping malls and large meeting places and along major thoroughfares. Jiang also stressed that citizens who use the device, but do not save the patients are exempt from criminal liability, and he urged them to use the device without any worries.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese