The National Security Council’s New Southbound Policy task force on Monday presented a plan by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to set up a joint venture that would invest in medical and healthcare development in Southeast Asia.
The proposed company — a 20-80 percent government and private holding — would provide consultation for the establishment and management of hospitals, as well as handle purchases of medicine and other medical equipment, a source said on Tuesday.
It could also build hospitals in target countries, the source said, adding that if the project is approved, it could serve as a catalyst for the nation’s exports of medical products.
It would be the second big project under the New Southbound Policy framework, following “One Nation, One Center.”
The “One Nation, One Center” project, which was initiated last year, involves six hospitals selected to operate in a Southeast Asian country to provide medical training and consulation, as well as serve as a bridge between the local and Taiwanese medical industries.
The six are: National Taiwan University Hospital in Indonesia; Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Malaysia and Brunei; National Cheng Kung University Hospital in India; Tzu Chi Hospital’s Hualien branch in the Philippines; Changhua Christian Hospital in Thailand; and Taipei Veterans’ General Hospital in Vietnam.
Another hospital, Shin Kong Wu Ho-su Memorial Hospital, focusing on Myanmar, joined the project this year, the source said.
The latest proposal has received wide support in the council, the source said, adding that it urged the ministry to expedite the project and develop a long-term strategy.
The ministry’s proposal states that private investors would have greater confidence in the project if the government is involved, especially as private medical institutes are barred by the Foundations Act (財團法人法) from directly investing overseas.
The council also suggested that the ministry would benefit from discussing the project with civilian medical centers, as the level of participation by private institutions would be critical to its success.
The ministry proposal was the product of cross-departmental meetings convened by the Executive Yuan for brainstorming, hoping to come up with more ideas on how to expand the scope of the New Southbound Policy, the source said.
The policy, to date, has helped boosted bilateral tourism, financial investments and academic interactions.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
Taiwan’s Li Yu-hsiang performs in the men’s singles figure skating short program at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday. Li finished 24th with a score of 72.41 to advance to Saturday’s free skate portion of the event. He is the first Taiwanese to qualify for the free skate of men’s singles figure skating at the Olympics since David Liu in 1992.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a ceremony marking the delivery of its 11th Anping-class offshore patrol vessel Lanyu (蘭嶼艦), saying it would boost Taiwan’s ability to respond to Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Chung-Lung (張忠龍) presided over the CGA event in the Port of Kaoshiung. Representatives of the National Security Council also attended the event. Designed for long-range and protracted patrol operations at sea, the Lanyu is a 65.4m-long and 14.8m-wide ship with a top speed of 44 knots (81.5kph) and a cruising range of 2,000 nautical miles (3704km). The vessel is equipped with a
Two siblings in their 70s were injured yesterday when they opened a parcel and it exploded, police in Yilan said, adding the brother and sister were both in stable condition. The two siblings, surnamed Hung (洪), had received the parcel two days earlier but did not open it until yesterday, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday in Taiwan, police said. Chen Chin-cheng (陳金城), head of the Yilan County Government Police Bureau, said the package bore no postmark or names and was labeled only with the siblings’ address. Citing the findings of a
RSS