Illegal long-term care facility operators face fines of up to NT$1 million (US$35,790) if they are found to have caused the death of a tenant through negligence after the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday passed an amendment to the Long-Term Care Services Act (長期照顧服務法).
The amendment authorizes the Ministry of Health and Welfare to inspect the facilities of illegal operators, which are not allowed to avoid, obstruct or refuse such requests and must offer all information requested.
Unauthorized operators who avoid ministry inspections and refuse to follow orders to transfer tenants to legal facilities would be fined from NT$60,000 to NT$300,000, and fines would continue until they comply with government orders.
If an unlawful long-term care institution abandons, mistreats, discriminates, harms or restrains tenants, operators would face fines from NT$100,000 to NT$500,000.
If an illegal operator’s negligence leads to the death of a tenant, they would be fined from NT$200,000 to NT$1 million, the amendment states.
In addition to disclosing the names of institutions and operators operating illegally, the ministry could also fine them until the problems are addressed.
The amendment also requires long-term care facility operators to clearly stipulate service payments based on a tenant’s level of disability and charge them accordingly.
The service should be co-paid by tenants and the government, and the amount to be paid by the government should be stipulated by the ministry.
The amendment also bans long-term facility operators from giving discounts or reducing payments to avoid price competition.
The amendment also states that the act does not apply to facilities built by schools offering long-term care service programs, which should be used for teaching, apprenticeship and research.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs encourages businesses to develop auxiliary devices to be used in long-term care service, the amendment says.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS