A group of scholars yesterday launched the nation's first non-governmental organization with reform of the nation's health care system as its goal.
The primary objective of the Health Care Reform Foundation is to promote the transparency of medical information.
"We must promote a rational dialogue between the government, doctors and patients that is based on equality," said Chang Li-yun (張苙雲), the foundation's chairwoman and research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of Sociology.
"We would like to provide the public with quality and fair medical services in 10 years, with the efforts from everyone in society."
In addition, Chang said, the foundation hopes that reliable medical professionals will become the norm, not the exception, in Taiwan's health care system.
According to Liu Mei-chun (劉梅君), the foundation's managing director and an associate professor at National Chengchi University's Institute for Labor Research, patients are not given access to the medical information they need.
"Most of the information that patients should have access to is only available to health officials, hospitals and doctors," Liu said.
Liu pointed to a recent survey of 2,000 medical patients conducted by the foundation.
The study found that most individuals feel a more complete record of a patient's medical history and clear information about prescribed medicine should be provided to them.
"Fully ensuring a patient's right to get access to their medical records will force doctors to be more careful with their diagnosis," Liu said.
Regulations allow hospitals to choose whether to give patients their complete or summarized records upon a letter of request.
But Liu criticized the rules as disadvantageous to patients who may need comprehensive evidence to prove a hospital's liability in a dispute.
The Cabinet has approved changes to rules that would require hospitals to provide a patient's medical history in full upon request.
The changes are awaiting final approval by the legislature, Liu said.
In addition, the group plans to promote the standardization of patient histories, so that the information is easy to understand.
Also, the group believes patients should be provided with more detailed information about their prescription medicine.
"There should at least be information about the prescription's active ingredients, side effects, proper dosage, the illness it deals with and its expiration date," Liu said.
The foundation said this would help patients double check whether they have received the right prescription from their doctor or pharmacy.
"It would help determine liability in any medical dispute involving prescriptions, too," Liu said.
The group noted that regulations exist that require detailed information to be provided about prescriptions, but they are not strictly enforced.
Most prescriptions contain just the name of the medicine and the dosage to be taken.
"Some pharmacists have told us of many cases in which their family or friends failed to realize they were given the wrong medicine," Liu said.
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