The official restructuring of the Department of Health as the Ministry of Health and Welfare was completed yesterday, with the integration of resources and the establishment of the Social and Family Affairs Administration and the Department of Social Insurance being the major changes made, the ministry said.
The Bureau of National Health Insurance has become the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) and the Bureau of Health Promotion is now the Health Promotion Administration.
The Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration will keep the names, but are now a notch higher in the bureaucratic hierarchy.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Other notable changes are the incorporation of the Social and Family Affairs Administration and the Department of Social Insurance.
The former has integrated the bodies that are in charge of the welfare of women, senior citizens and people with disabilities that were previously under the Ministry of Interior’s Department of Social Affairs, as well as the Child Welfare Bureau, which was also previously under the interior ministry.
The goal of the administration is the implementation of a family and community-centered total care system, the agency said.
The social insurance department, on the other hand, has been restructured to have a better and more comprehensive grip on the three major social insurances, the NHI, the national pension and long-term care insurance.
The integration of resources made possible by the restructuring, among other tasks, is “to break the cycle of poverty-made illness and illness-made poverty and to provide better care for elderly people in an aging society,” the ministry said.
That is to be achieved by strengthening social insurance, developing a long-term care system, building healthcare and welfare clouds for comprehensive care, upgrading medical services in rural areas and connecting the public health and social resources provided at the central level and those at the local level to build an all-encompassing social security network, the ministry said.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern
RSS