■HEALTH
Doctor visit figure rising
Taiwanese visited the doctor or hospital an average of 15 times last year, Bureau of National Health Insurance statistics showed yesterday. The figure marks a record-high since the National Health Insurance scheme was launched in 1995. The bureau said the increase was because of the rapidly aging population. Visits for kidney disease treatment recorded the fastest growth — 13.9 percent over the past 10 years, said bureau Vice President Lee Cheng-hua (李丞華). National Health Insurance Civic Surveillance Alliance spokeswoman Eva Teng (滕西華) said the growing number of outpatient visits reflected an abuse of medical resources. Teng said patients who need checkups usually need to make three outpatient visits — one to schedule the examination, one for the checkup and a third for the results. Teng said hospitals should only require patients showing abnormalities in their tests to return for further diagnosis, while notifying those with normal results by telephone, e-mail or post.
■GOVERNMENT
Ministry official dies in PRC
A Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau official who traveled to Beijing with five colleagues to attend meetings on cross-strait cooperation in fighting drug crime died suddenly on Thursday at his hotel. Preliminary investigations attributed the death of 55-year-old Huang Chien-cheng (黃建成), who had worked at the ministry for 29 years, to a massive heart attack. The ministry has arranged for Huang’s family to travel to Beijing. It said Huang and his colleagues from the Drug Crime Prevention Department traveled to Xiamen on Monday at the invitation of the Xiamen City Government for a meeting on joint efforts to crack down on cross-strait drug crime. The group proceeded to Beijing two days later for a meeting on the same topic. Huang was nicknamed the “ascetic monk” for his devotion to his work.
■POLITICS
Chiu may reconsider lawsuit
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) yesterday said she would consider withdrawing a lawsuit against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Chin-hua (李慶華) if Lee promised to stop his violent behavior at the legislature. Chiu filed a lawsuit against Lee that claims he verbally assaulted her on Wednesday during a legislative committee meeting. A shouting match broke out between the two when Chiu interrupted Lee several times during his turn to speak. In retaliation, Lee called Chiu a “shrew” who lacked proper upbringing. After an exchange of insults, Chiu walked up to Lee and slapped him on the left cheek. Chiu yesterday said she was “provoked.” Lee accused Chiu and other DPP legislators of assaulting him. Lee later that day filed a lawsuit against Chiu for “harming him and smearing him in public.”
■ HEALTH
Taiwanese wins award
Academia Sinica member Chen Ding-shinn (陳定信) has won the International Recognition Award by the European Association for the Study of the Liver, becoming the first Taiwanese to receive the award. The award ceremony took place yesterday at the EASL headquarters in Copenhagen. Chen, a former dean of National Taiwan University’s College of Medicine, has carried out extensive research on hepatitis B. Chen and his team have contributed to understanding infection by the hepatitis B virus (HBV), the early detection and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and the prevention of HBV infection.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taiwan is bracing for a political shake-up as a majority of directly elected lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) face the prospect of early removal from office in an unprecedented wave of recall votes slated for July 26 and Aug. 23. The outcome of the public votes targeting 26 KMT lawmakers in the next two months — and potentially five more at later dates — could upend the power structure in the legislature, where the KMT and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) currently hold a combined majority. After denying direct involvement in the recall campaigns for months, the
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