The Taipei City Government Special Case Investigation Team declared yesterday that Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital -- though indeed not vigilant enough -- did not try to cover up the in-hospital SARS outbreak nor did it intentionally delay reporting its cases of the disease.
However, the investigation team did say that the city's Bureau of Health had been negligent in its supervision.
"The ability to detect a probable SARS case was affected by the frequently changing definitions of the epidemic from the World Health Organization (WHO), plus there were often difficulties in clinical diagnosis of the symptoms. Hence the experts did not think Hoping meant to conceal the outbreak within the hospital or put off reporting the cases," said Deputy Mayor Pai Hsiou-hsiung (白秀雄), who was in charge of assembling the team made up of five external experts.
"But since this disease could bring serious consequences, even if the doctor or the hospital could not judge a patient to be a suspected case, for the sake of safety the hospital should still have remained vigilant. After probing how the hospital dealt with the patients, the team found them to be insufficiently alert," Pai added.
The investigation team offered an official report on the Hoping in-hospital SARS infection yesterday. The report further indicated that Hoping should be faulted for not taking necessary protective measures before it was sealed off.
Concerning the health bureau's responsibility as the authority in charge of the municipal hospitals, the investigation team pointed out that the bureau did not conduct proper supervision of the hospital's preparations for SARS.
In addition, the team said that the health bureau did not demand strongly enough that the hospitals heighten their level of alertness, resulting in the inability of the bureau to respond to the epidemic in a timely manner, the team said.
The investigators suggested that the cases of former Hoping Hospital superintendent Wu Kang-wen (
The investigators, however, could not reach an agreement on former bureau director Chiu Shu-ti (
In the end, the investigation team decided to send the report to the Control Yuan for reference, since the Control Yuan was already investigating Chiu.
As to how to review the responsibility of the health bureau officials and civil servants, the team suggested that the bureau should handle the matter itself and then report to the city government.
Yesterday, Taipei did not report any new SARS cases for the first time since the outbreak began in late April.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS