Private-sector ambulance operators are encountering more disputes after new government regulations prohibited them from transporting bodies to mortuaries and funeral parlors.
Citing revenue loss, the operators said they are considering organizing a protest to air their grievances.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare implemented the ban last month, with fines of between NT$100,000 and NT$500,000 for violators.
However, private-sector ambulance operators said the new rule has led to problems for the families of patients, ambulance operators and funeral service companies.
A private ambulance driver in Yunlin County’s Douliou City (斗六) was transporting a patient from a hospital in Douliou to be with the patient’s family in Greater Taichung. The patient died before reaching home, so the family asked for the body to be sent to a funeral parlor.
When the ambulance operator asked the family to contact a funeral service company to handle the body it led to an argument as the family was unaware of the new regulations.
“The new regulations came in suddenly last month. If someone breaks the regulations, then they have to pay a fine... We asked ministry officials about it and they told us that the deceased should be transported in a hearse specifically designed to carry a corpse and coffin,” the ambulance operator said.
As funeral businesses in Yunlin do not have the required hearses, the government is being accused of imposing the regulations without understanding the needs and conditions in rural areas.
“If a patient passes away, then we are required to change the vehicle transporting them. Most of the time, the families become very upset about it. They think we are taking advantage of the situation to charge extra fees,” an operator said. “If the government wants to impose regulations, why doesn’t it implement a policy that requires all terminally ill patients to draw their last breath at a hospital and die there?”
National Ambulance Association secretary-general Cheng Ming-chuan (鄭名川) said custom usually calls for the transportation of terminally ill patients home in order for families to see the patient before they die, and for patients to die at home.
“From some people’s perspective, if an ambulance carries patients it can also transport corpses. Some may feel it is not hygenic and somewhat scary, but it can be handled properly, with sterilization treatment and good sanitation. For example, hospitals do not throw away the bed and the bed sheet when a patient passes away,” Cheng said. “What the government should do is to have strict supervision to ensure operators have done the proper sterilization. They should not restrict ambulances from carrying the deceased.”
When someone dear to them passes away, family members are usually overcome by grief and emotional distress in the immediate aftermath, and that complicates the situation, Cheng said.
“Does the government want ambulance operators to take out the corpse from the vehicle, put it on the roadside and wait for funeral service companies to come along?” Cheng asked. “Why can fire department ambulances carry corpses, but private-sector ambulances cannot? This is a double standard. It is needless interference in people’s lives and it is causing aggravation for everyone.”
A ministry official said an ambulance carrying a corpse does not conform to their intended purpose of “transporting and administering medical treatment for patients and injured persons.”
However, the ministry will take the regional environment and local customs into consideration, and in the initial period there will be flexibility, rather than starting to issue fines to violators, the official said.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
RSS