It was widely reported that Taiwan retained the top ranking for the seventh consecutive year on Numbeo’s Health Care Index. Taiwan scored 86.5 on a scale of zero to 100 on the regular index and 159.2 on the exponential index, which places greater emphasis on positive responses to its surveys.
However, do the rankings reflect what truly happens in Taiwan’s medical system?
What I see on the front lines working at a medical center is a much starker reality. For many years, Taiwan’s medical industry has been rooted in the National Health Insurance (NHI) system, which provides high-quality services at low cost by exploiting healthcare workers, who work themselves into the ground.
While they are proud of the No. 1 rankings, the government and the media turn a blind eye to the predicament faced by healthcare workers. They even use it as an excuse to rationalize not increasing NHI premiums and refusing to improve the work environment, which could lead to the collapse of the healthcare industry.
The Numbeo rankings are based on how respondents feel about healthcare workers’ attitudes, convenience of access to medical services and cost. It is not a professional evaluation of the quality of medical services.
Taiwan’s high satisfaction rate comes on the back of medical professionals working overtime, and dealing with low incomes and fatigue. Healthcare workers are enslaved to fill a resource gap, sacrificing their mental and physical health while earning less than they should.
NHI premiums have not gone up for years. To survive, hospitals and clinics have to lower their costs and it is healthcare workers who face the consequences. Long working hours, high-risk work and low income are factors contributing to the trend of young physicians being unwilling to specialize in areas such as emergency medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology to avoid high-pressure work environments. Even fields that are said to be relatively less stressful, such as ophthalmology and dermatology, are not appealing enough to retain talent.
The shortage of personnel worsens every day. Primary care providers are under pressure to deal with an increasing patient load, while the NHI system requires healthcare workers to do administrative work that is unrelated to medical care itself with no increase in resources.
The government should address and recognize the predicament and stop taking credit for rankings from opinion-based surveys. It must stop finding excuses to shrug off its responsibilities to implement healthcare reform.
Improving healthcare services should not require endless sacrifices by healthcare workers. For the sake of public health, problems in the industry should be addressed so that the Numbeo ranking is not merely superficial glory, but truly represents the well-being of healthcare workers and patients.
Lu Chun-wei is a dermatologist and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital assistant.
Translated by Fion Khan
In a summer of intense political maneuvering, Taiwanese, whose democratic vibrancy is a constant rebuke to Beijing’s authoritarianism, delivered a powerful verdict not on China, but on their own political leaders. Two high-profile recall campaigns, driven by the ruling party against its opposition, collapsed in failure. It was a clear signal that after months of bitter confrontation, the Taiwanese public is demanding a shift from perpetual campaign mode to the hard work of governing. For Washington and other world capitals, this is more than a distant political drama. The stability of Taiwan is vital, as it serves as a key player
Much like the first round on July 26, Saturday’s second wave of recall elections — this time targeting seven Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers — also failed. With all 31 KMT legislators who faced recall this summer secure in their posts, the mass recall campaign has come to an end. The outcome was unsurprising. Last month’s across-the-board defeats had already dealt a heavy blow to the morale of recall advocates and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), while bolstering the confidence of the KMT and its ally the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). It seemed a foregone conclusion that recalls would falter, as
The fallout from the mass recalls and the referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant continues to monopolize the news. The general consensus is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been bloodied and found wanting, and is in need of reflection and a course correction if it is to avoid electoral defeat. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has not emerged unscathed, either, but has the opportunity of making a relatively clean break. That depends on who the party on Oct. 18 picks to replace outgoing KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫). What is certain is that, with the dust settling
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) on Thursday last week urged democratic nations to boycott China’s military parade on Wednesday next week. The parade, a grand display of Beijing’s military hardware, is meant to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. While China has invited world leaders to attend, many have declined. A Kyodo News report on Sunday said that Japan has asked European and Asian leaders who have yet to respond to the invitation to refrain from attending. Tokyo is seeking to prevent Beijing from spreading its distorted interpretation of wartime history, the report
RSS