The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged the government to give greater support to healthcare workers on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19.
One of the measures it proposed at a news conference in Taipei was giving healthcare workers priority access to quarantine hotels.
Healthcare workers, who are worried about infecting their families, have had difficulty finding accommodation at quarantine hotels, it said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
In addition to helping them obtain quarantine housing, the government should subsidize the cost of the hotels to lessen their financial burden, it said.
It should make an inventory of all supplies related to the prevention of COVID-19 — including goggles and surgical caps — and control their prices to prevent price increases or shortages, the KMT said.
The review process for payments of COVID-19-related allowances and bonuses should also be simplified to avoid delays, it added.
The KMT said its suggestions were based on discussions with healthcare providers.
The COVID-19 pandemic remains the public’s top concern, KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) said.
It is the government’s duty to provide the nation’s front-line medical staff with necessary support and protection, she said.
“We hope that [the Central Epidemic Command Center] and the Ministry of Health and Welfare can truly see the hard work of healthcare workers,” she added.
Each health facility handles “disease prevention leave” differently, KMT medical committee deputy director Wang Kwua-yun (王桂芸) said, urging the government to introduce a consistent approach.
Although delays in the payment of healthcare workers’ allowances could be due to administrative issues, it is important that they be issued in a timely manner, to show workers that the government values their contributions, she said.
The government should consider providing a dedicated facility for healthcare workers who might otherwise need to pay for a quarantine hotel, she said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) or Vice President William Lai (賴清德) should join negotiations with international pharmaceutical companies for COVID-19 vaccines, Taiwan Society of Preventive Medicine chairman Arthur Chen (陳宜民) said, citing slow progress on their procurement and the development of domestic vaccines.
The government should tell people when they can expect to receive vaccines, and accelerate efforts to secure vaccines to protect front-line healthcare workers, KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said.
The Grand Hotel Taipei on Saturday confirmed that its information system had been illegally accessed and expressed its deepest apologies for the concern it has caused its customers, adding that the issue is being investigated by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau. The hotel said that on Tuesday last week, it had discovered an external illegal intrusion into its information system. An initial digital forensic investigation confirmed that parts of the system had been accessed, it said, adding that the possibility that some customer data were stolen and leaked could not be ruled out. The actual scope and content of the affected data
DO THEY BITE IT? Cats have better memories than people might think, but their motivation is based entirely around the chance of getting fed Cats can remember the identity of the people who fed them the day before, Taipei-based veterinarians said on Friday, debunking a popular myth that cats have a short memory. If a stray does not recognize the person who fed them the previous day, it is likely because they are not carrying food and the cat has no reason to recognize them, said Wu Chou Animal Hospital head Chen Chen-huan (陳震寰). “When cats come to a human bearing food, it is coming for the food, not the person,” he said. “The food is the key.” Since the cat’s attention is on the food, it
A New York-based NGO has launched a global initiative to rename the nation’s overseas missions, most of which operate under the name "Taipei," to "Taiwan Representative Office (TRO)," according to a news release. Ming Chiang (江明信), CEO of Hello Taiwan, announced the campaign at a news conference in Berlin on Monday, coinciding with the World Forum held from Monday through Wednesday, the institution stated in the release. Speaking at the event, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) said she believed this renaming campaign would enable the international community to see Taiwan
TOO DANGEROUS: The families agreed to suspend crewed recovery efforts that could put rescuers in danger from volcanic gases and unstable terrain The bodies of two Taiwanese tourists and a Japanese pilot have been located inside a volcanic crater, Japanese authorities said yesterday, nearly a month after a sightseeing helicopter crashed during a flight over southwestern Japan. Drone footage taken at the site showed three bodies near the wreckage of the aircraft inside a crater on Mount Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture, police and fire officials said. The helicopter went missing on Jan. 20 and was later found on a steep slope inside the Nakadake No. 1 Crater, about 50m below the rim. Authorities said that conditions at the site made survival highly unlikely, and ruled
RSS