Following a decision by a major obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Taitung County in February to stop delivering babies, four doctors are now responsible for delivering all of the county’s babies.
The Chang Chung-ching Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic’s (張崇晉婦產科) decision has left only four of 16 obstetricians and gynecologists in the county available to deliver babies — two at the Taitung Mackay Memorial Hospital and two at the Taitung Christian Hospital.
Taitung County saw 2,057 births in 2008, but the number fell below 1,500 for the first time last year as the county saw only 1,484 births, Taitung County Government statistics showed.
Of those births, 1,374 occurred at a hospital or clinic, Health Promotion Administration (HPA) statistics showed.
The Taitung Christian Hospital was responsible for 46 percent of deliveries and two doctors at the Chang Chung-ching Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic — Chang Chung-ching (張崇晉) and Wu Po-lin (吳博霖) — assisted in 449, or 33 percent.
Proportionally speaking, there are enough obstetricians and gynecologists in Taiwan for the entire population, Taitung Public Health Bureau Medical Affairs Section head Su Mei-chu (蘇美珠) said.
However, Taitung’s transportation is inconvenient and its birthrate has been decreasing by the year, Su said, adding that obstetrics and gynecology is a high-risk medical branch.
It is difficult to find obstetricians and gynecologists willing to deliver babies in Taitung, she said, adding that the county’s hospitals have long been hiring, but have received no applications.
HPA statistics showed that Chang and Wu were responsible for many deliveries in the county over the past few decades and the effect of the clinic’s decision has yet to be reflected in the data, Su said.
The bureau would invite all hospitals and clinics in the county with obstetrics and gynecology departments to enter into discussions and propose solutions before asking the Ministry of Health and Welfare for more doctors, Su said.
When the Chang Chung-ching Clinic in December last year in a notice said it was to stop delivering babies in February, it made him and his wife panic, a Taitung resident nicknamed A-wei (阿偉) said.
They had to get used to a new doctor and have for that reason decided not to have another child, he said.
People distrust the obstetrics and gynecology providers in the region, a resident of the county’s Guanshan Township (關山) surnamed Huang (黃) said, adding that women have become hesitant to have children.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS