The controversy surrounding the appointment of former health minister Lin Fang-yue (林芳郁) as the next superintendent of the Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) continued after an advertisement appeared in a newspaper yesterday accusing government officials of “shaming the medical field.”
The Executive Yuan’s Veterans Affairs Commission announcement last week of Lin’s appointment as the next superintendent of TVGH will take effect on Jan. 16. However, the decision attracted criticism from current and retired hospital staff because Lin will be the hospital’s first superintendent not promoted from within the VGH system.
Yesterday’s advertisement on the front page of the Chinese-language United Daily News contained a letter criticizing President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) and Lin for “shaming the medical field” in Taiwan. The advertisement was anonymous, and ran under the name of “a group of humiliated medical staff.”
In the letter, Lin’s appointment was described as “shocking” and “out of the blue.” The letter also urged the Executive Yuan to retract its decision, or the hospital’s top management would advise against Lin’s inauguration.
Yeh denied the appointment was politically motivated and said, “President Ma was not involved in the decision-making.”
“The Executive Yuan has been planning to re-organize Taiwan’s medical facilities, including biomedical developments and medical resources in rural areas,” Yeh said. “Hospitals such as VGH and National Taiwan University Hospital are national hospitals, so there are many areas in which we need the VGH to help us out.”
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper