The scarcity of medical resources in Pingtung County has been brought up before, but the problem has yet to be addressed.
A few days ago in Hengchun Township (恆春), a firefighter died in the line of duty. The incident shows the urgency of dealing with the uneven distribution of medical resources in Taiwan.
Since the Formosa Fun Coast (八仙樂園) water park disaster in 2015, I have been calling for the establishment of a burn center in Kenting (墾丁).
However, Kenting, the most popular tourist destination in southern Taiwan, still lacks a professional burn center. This leaves public safety in jeopardy whenever large events are hosted in Kenting.
The firefighter in Hengchun was run over by a truck, but rather than being treated at a local hospital, he had to be taken to Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.
Hengchun does not have the capacity for urgent medical cases, and the incident happened during the 228 Peace Memorial Day long weekend when the traffic was much heavier than usual.
Hengchun residents have confronted this problem many times and demanded changes. Six years ago, they petitioned the government to establish a National Airborne Service Corps (NASC) station at Hengchun Airport.
The petition received the 5,000 signatures needed, and after it was filed, the government responded and discussed the issue with residents.
However, setting up a NASC station in Hengchun is still under discussion, and nothing has been settled yet.
Whenever Hengchun residents need critical treatment or intensive care, they still have to be taken by road to Kaohsiung or Pingtung City.
Traffic is not the only problem. Pingtung County covers a vast area, but there are only two emergency ambulances equipped with heart monitors and cardiac stimulators.
As ambulances of this kind can function as a small emergency room, they are particularly important for areas without access to adequate medical resources.
Whereas Taipei has 25 emergency ambulances, some areas that need them do not have a single one available.
For example, Hualien County — as large as Pingtung County — only has one, as does Taitung County — another vast area. Chiayi and Penghu counties do not have any such ambulances.
The uneven distribution of medical resources has exacerbated the already scarce resources in these rural areas. People living in the east or south are more likely to lose their lives during emergencies.
More medical resources and healthcare workers should be distributed to Pingtung County and Hengchun. A fleet of air ambulances should also be deployed.
This is especially necessary when there are emergencies during holidays, when heavy traffic makes southern Taiwan’s rescue and medical system even more fragile.
In recent years, many people have advocated extending the railroad and highways to southern Pingtung.
Before last year’s local elections, Pingtung County Commissioner Chou Chun-mi (周春米) called on the government to start the construction projects, which, unfortunately, have yet to commence.
For those living in Pingtung, Provincial Highway 26 and Provincial Highway 1 are the only roads connected to the Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3), which goes to Kaohsiung. Sometimes, if an emergency occurs, these three roads are lifesaving, and the traffic situation is the difference between life and death.
Hengchun needs more medical resources, such as emergency ambulances and professional healthcare workers.
A burn center should also be established to ensure the safety of tourists, a project that the Ministry of Health and Welfare should take the initiative to plan.
It should also work with local governments to improve the medical system in Pingtung.
Hengchun Airport can and should be put to use for a NASC station, as it has become an idle facility.
Had there been a fleet of air ambulances, the firefighter who died could have been airlifted to Kaohsiung, saving his life. Although the government has responded to the petition, the NASC proposal should be reconsidered.
Myers Su is a political commentator.
Translated by Emma Liu
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has a good reason to avoid a split vote against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in next month’s presidential election. It has been here before and last time things did not go well. Taiwan had its second direct presidential election in 2000 and the nation’s first ever transition of political power, with the KMT in opposition for the first time. Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was ushered in with less than 40 percent of the vote, only marginally ahead of James Soong (宋楚瑜), the candidate of the then-newly formed People First Party (PFP), who got almost 37
At their recent summit in San Francisco, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) made progress in a few key areas. Notably, they agreed to resume direct military-to-military communications — which China had suspended last year, following a visit by then-speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan — to reduce the chances of accidental conflict. However, neither leader was negotiating from a particularly strong position: As Biden struggles with low approval ratings, Xi is overseeing a rapidly weakening economy. The economic news out of China has been poor for some time. Growth is slowing;
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) has called on his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) counterpart, William Lai (賴清德), to abandon his party’s Taiwanese independence platform. Hou’s remarks follow an article published in the Nov. 30 issue of Foreign Affairs by three US-China relations academics: Bonnie Glaser, Jessica Chen Weiss and Thomas Christensen. They suggested that the US emphasize opposition to any unilateral changes in the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait, and that if Lai wins the election, he should consider freezing the Taiwanese independence clause. The concept of de jure independence was first
Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday last week cut its outlook for China’s credit rating to “negative” from “stable,” citing risks from a slowing economy, increasing local government debts and a continued slump in the Chinese property market. Wasting little time, the agency on Wednesday also downgraded its credit outlooks for Hong Kong and Macau to “negative” from “stable,” citing the territories’ tight political, institutional, economic and financial linkages with China. While Moody’s reaffirmed its “A1” sovereign rating for China, the outlook downgrade was its first for the country since 2017, reflecting the agency’s pessimistic view of China’s mounting debts
RSS