The Ministry of Health and Welfare will take a three-pronged approach to encouraging professional caregivers to stay in their jobs, including raising the minimum salary to NT$32,000, Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
Chen made the comment as he presented a report to legislature’s Economic and Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene committees during a joint meeting.
He had been asked by the committees to present a special report on efforts to resolve problems causing caregivers to leave the profession, including poor working conditions, low salaries and personnel shortages.
His appearance at the Legislative Yuan came just days after Premier William Lai (賴清德) got into hot water for saying that while caregivers’ salaries are relatively low — about NT$30,000 per month — they should view their work as “doing good deeds.”
Lai made the comment at the ministry’s launch of its “1966 Hotline” on Thursday and he apologized on Friday.
Several legislators asked Chen if he held a similar view.
Although Lai’s remark sounded controversial, the intention was to encourage caregivers to have a more positive attitude about the difficulties of their jobs, Chen said.
“Our hope is for caregivers to make the most of their profession and we will do our best to help them achieve this, including by raising salaries, assisting with career planning and improving their professional image,” Chen said.
The ministry plans to establish a promotion system that could give experienced caregivers opportunities to become supervisors or even run their own care facilities, he said.
The average salary of professional caregivers had been relatively low, at about NT$25,000 to NT$27,000, Chen said, although the ministry had raised the minimum hourly wage from NT$180 to NT$200 in 2014.
After the Long-term Care Services Program 2.0 took effect this year, with subsidies for transportation and services in remote areas, the average salary increased to about NT$30,000, he said.
A new payment system would be launched and the minimum salary would be raised to at least NT$32,000 next year, he said.
Professional caregivers working under difficult conditions, in specific areas or with patients that have certain physical conditions would earn additional pay, he said.
The ministry would also try to use administrative measures to ensure that caregivers can make full use of their expertise, he said.
New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) also questioned Chen about lung cancer screening and detection efforts.
Deaths from lung cancer surpassed those from liver cancer last year, but more than half of all lung cancer cases were detected at relatively late stages, Huang said.
It was ironic that revenue from the tax on tobacco products is used to subsidize screening for four types of cancer, but lung cancer was not one of them, he said.
Japan has a higher detection rate of early stage lung cancer because it uses low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) in lung screening exams, Chen told Huang, adding that the ministry plans to start conducting LDCT screening for lung cancer next year.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as