Most hospitals do not have enough nurses to take care of patients, a nurses’ union said on Thursday at a meeting held by the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee.
Citing statistics from a trial evaluation conducted last year by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Taiwan Nurses Union said 75 percent of the 200 hospitals surveyed failed to meet the standard nurse-to-patient ratio for day shifts.
Union director Jane Lu (盧孳豔) said that on day shifts, the nurse-to-patient ratio is supposed to be at least 1:9 at academic medical centers, 1:10 at metropolitan hospitals and 1:11 at community hospitals.
If the number of patients rises by one in those ratios, the incidence of death increases by 7 percent, she said, citing international research.
The ministry needs to address the problem immediately, Lu said.
Teng Su-wen (鄧素文), director of the ministry’s Department of Nursing and Health Services Development, said the trial evaluation used the strictest standards for nurse-to-patient ratios.
Hospitals will be ranked as “unqualified” in future evaluations if they fail to meet the requirement for nurse-to-patient ratios on day, night or midnight shifts, Teng said.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) said nurse-to-patient ratios would be officially included in next year’s hospital performance evaluation, and hospitals that fail to meet the required standards would be downgraded if they do not address the situation within three months of the evaluation.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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