The Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday said it has proposed an amendment to the Medical Act (醫療法) to bar shareholding company representatives from their affiliated medical foundations’ boards.
“The proposal was made to prevent medical foundations from becoming affiliated companies’ holdings centers,” Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said.
The proposed amendment is aimed at improving regulations on medical corporations for better organizational management, reducing administrative and financial disturbance and contributing to society, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator and physician Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) said.
Taiwan Healthcare Reform Foundation chief executive Joanne Liu (劉淑瓊) said hospitals are allowed to make a profit, but it is important that they are self-disciplined and not view making a profit as their first priority.
More than a dozen physicians at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in June last year resigned en masse, which highlighted management problems on the hospital’s board.
Ministry Department of Medical Affairs Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said the proposed amendment is listed as a priority bill in this legislative session, adding that if it is passed, Formosa Plastics Group shareholders that represent the companies must withdraw from the hospital’s board.
Chen said that in addition to regulating the composition of medical corporations’ boards and achieving better public welfare, the proposed amendment would also stipulate that hospitals must allocate 20 percent of their income surplus to public welfare and 5 percent to improving their employees’ salaries or recruiting more personnel.
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