Seven hospitals in Taipei failed the latest inspection of indoor air quality, primarily due to high concentrations of airborne bacteria, the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection said.
Twenty-three hospitals were inspected in the department’s autumn inspection of indoor air quality at medical facilities, with the bacterial concentration levels at seven of them exceeding the regulated standard of less than 1,500 colony-forming units per cubic meter of air (cfu/m3).
The seven hospitals are National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University Children’s Hospital, Taipei Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei City Hospital’s Heping Fuyou Branch and Mackay Children’s Hospital, the department said.
“The bacterial concentration at these hospitals ranged from about 1,900cfu/m3 to about 2,800cfu/m3, which is more serious than we expected,” department Deputy Commissioner Lu Shih-chang (盧世昌) said.
The indoor concentration of carbon dioxide at Taipei City Hospital’s Heping Fuyou Branch was above the regulated standard of 1,000 parts per million.
“The concentration level of indoor airborne bacteria is an indicator for evaluating health risks,” Lu said. “It does not mean that people’s health will be harmed when levels exceed the regulated standard, but the risk of getting sick or suffering an allergic reaction is higher in such an environment.”
Many patients enter hospitals, so the bacterial concentration level is likely to increase, the department said, adding that wet or dirty areas are breeding grounds for harmful bacteria, fungi and other negative microforms, so training materials on air quality management compiled by the Environmental Protection Administration say that indoor environments should be dry, well ventilated and regularly disinfected.
The seven hospitals must improve their air quality within a given period or face fines of between NT$50,000 and NT$250,000, the department said, adding that hospitals should limit the total number of occupants and improve air ventilation systems to prevent high levels of carbon dioxide.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
RSS