Two thousand hospitals and clinics are expected to join in a nationwide campaign to help people quit smoking that will be launched on March 1, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.
About 180,000 people are expected to take advantage of the program, which will translate into 45,000 smokers quitting the habit, given an expected success rate of 25 percent, Bureau of Health Promotion Director-General Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞) said.
Success is counted if someone remains smoke-free six months after the end of the program.
The program is a sound investment by the government because smokers’ health will improve and it will also help prevent their family members from suffering the effects of secondhand smoke, she said.
If one smoker is reckoned to create social costs of NT$420,000 (US$14,240) because of the addiction, the program will generate long-term savings of NT$19 billion in terms of medical and care costs, Chiou said.
According to the bureau, the longest treatment period will last eight weeks and each smoker will be allowed a second try at the program in the event of relapse. The participants will need to cover some of the costs of the program, to a maximum of NT$200, she said, but added that smokers from low-income families could participate free of charge.
According to the DOH, more than 18,000 people are killed nationwide by tobacco use each year and 33.5 percent of men in Taiwan smoke, a figure about 1.6 times higher than in the US.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises. Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS’s coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued last night. The reports were “inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter,” it said. The hotel said it received a refund request from a
RSS