Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) yesterday said that details of a “judicial mental hospital” needs to be ironed out by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, both of which hope to move forward with the plan as soon as possible.
The location, source of funding and staffing of the facility are among the details that need to be worked out by the ministries, he said at a meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, where lawmakers discussed the central government’s social security net after the fatal stabbing in July last year of a railway police officer by a man with a history of schizophrenia sparked questions about its effectiveness.
Several lawmakers questioned Tsai about progress on establishing the facility.
While the ministry’s budget for next year has largely been planned, it could reappropriate funds from the existing budget for the creation of the judiciary mental hospital, he said, adding that gradual implementation of the plan is a viable option.
Tsai on Monday said that the two ministries had agreed to jointly create the facility to treat people with mental illness sentenced to custodial protection.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare would provide medical expertise, while the Ministry of Justice would be responsible for security, he said.
The Chiayi District Court on Thursday last week acquitted the man, surnamed Cheng (鄭), of murdering the railway police officer, and ordered him to undergo five years of mandatory psychiatric treatment.
The verdict did not meet the public’s expectations, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said.
About 150,000 people in Taiwan have sought treatment for schizophrenia, Department of Mental and Oral Health Director-General Shen Lih-Jong (諶立中) said, citing National Health Insurance (NHI) records.
Lin said given that it would be “impossible” for the nation’s medical institutions to take in all schizophrenia patients, a social safety net is needed to help them.
One rehabilitation facility in Hsinchu offers daytime services through a partnership with the NHI system where patients only pay for meals and additional activity fees, and the NHI subsidizes a standard fee of NT$480 per day per person, Lin said.
However, the facility, which serves 44 people, faces multiple challenges, including rising operating costs and difficulty recruiting staff, he said.
Urging the Ministry of Health and Welfare to provide more resources to such facilities, Lin asked ministry officials to submit a report to the committee within a month reassessing the assistance the ministry provides to similar facilities.
Providing a social safety net is not just the health ministry’s responsibility, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) said.
An integrated effort across multiple government agencies — including the education, labor and interior ministries — is needed, she said.
KMT Legislator Lee Guei-min (李貴敏) said that if issues with the social security net are to be solved, discussions need to go beyond budget shortages.
Despite a steady increase in the number of social workers over the past five years to 8,512 last year, there is still “not quite enough” social workers in the nation, Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said.
On average, each social worker is responsible for handling nearly 40 cases, he said.
Additional reporting by Chen Wei-tzu and CNA
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS