A group of medical professionals yesterday urged the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) to not allow further evacuation flights from China unless three criteria are met to better ensure disease prevention.
There has been significant criticism over the passenger list and disease prevention measures for the first flight, on Monday, that evacuated Taiwanese from Wuhan, the epicenter of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.
Many vulnerable Taiwanese who should have been given priority were replaced on the flight by Chinese spouses or family members. Of three passengers who were not on the original list, one was confirmed to have the disease shortly after arriving in Taiwan.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
In addition, passengers were not given protective gear during the flight.
Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency on Friday quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) as saying that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was using “giving priority to the vulnerable and ensuring disease prevention” as an excuse to shed responsibility and mislead the public, as well as delay the process of returning people to Taiwan.
Surgeon Wu Hsin-tai (吳欣岱) on Friday launched a petition urging the government to firmly stick to its disease prevention principles and safeguard Taiwan from the virus.
The petition demands that Taipei decide the passenger lists for evacuation flights from Wuhan, that flights include Taiwanese disease control personnel and that evacuees should only be accepted if there are enough local health resources.
Wu, former DPP legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀), who is an obstetrician, and Taipei Doctors Union executive director Chang Chao-cheng (張詔程), as well as representatives of several medical groups, yesterday took the petition to the Mainland Affairs Council in Taipei.
Having more than 200 people confined to an airplane cabin with someone who is infected puts all passengers at risk, Wu said, adding that as Taiwan’s medical resources are limited — with only about 1,100 negative pressure isolation wards — the government should not accept unlimited evacuation flights from China.
The petition was signed by 111,761 medical professionals in one day, one-third of the nation’s registered medical professionals, she said.
Of the signatories, 15.1 percent are physicians and 47.9 percent are nurses, she added.
Separately yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, said that “it is meaningless to get involved in a political war of words when we are dealing with professional disease prevention.”
“We are fighting against a virus from Wuhan, not fighting against Wuhan,” he said, adding that all disease prevention policies have been undertaken according to professional assessments of infection risks, not based on bilateral relations.
MAC Deputy Minister Lee Li-jane (李麗珍) said that the medical professionals’ demands are in line with the council’s principles and that it would make sure they are implemented.
‘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