A shortage of medical resources has led to high infant mortality rates in the county, the Hualien Bureau of Health said last week.
Several county councilors, including Chang Mei-huui (張美慧), questioned county officials about the mortality rate at a council meeting.
The county has had the highest infant mortality rate nationwide for three years in a row, Hualien County Councilor Lamen Panay said, citing bureau statistics.
The county had an infant mortality rate of 6.6 deaths per 1,000 births in 2015, 6.8 deaths per 1,000 births in 2016 and 7.4 deaths per 1,000 births in 2017, she said.
The main cause for the relatively high rate is a shortage of medical resources in rural areas, bureau director-general Chu Chia-hsiang (朱家祥) said, adding that without regular checkups, pregnant women in rural areas do not receive educational information.
Since 2017, the central government has run a program to lower infant mortality in the county by monitoring high-risk pregnancies, providing high-risk expectant mothers with consultation services and helping pregnant women travel to a hospital to give birth, Chu said.
Lamen asked officials why none of the 36,000 trips made by Rehabus, a government-sponsored bus service for transporting people with disabilities, last year went to Fengbin Township (豐濱).
Hualien Transport Bus Co’s route from Hualien Station to Jingpu (靜浦) stops at Fengbin Hospital, but two routes from the station to Taitung County require people to walk 200m uphill to reach the hospital, making the routes a problem for those who have difficulty walking, she said.
“No trips were made from Fengbin due to the cost of the Rehabus service,” Hualien Social Affairs Department director Chang Yi-hua (張逸華) said, adding that low-income families do not pay, but other families must pay half of the metered cost, while the county pays the other half.
Hualien County Commissioner Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚) said that she would coordinate between the Directorate-General of Highways and Rehabus so that an additional stop would be added to the routes that pass the hospital.
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