The regulator should ease the application process for social welfare benefits for people without a savings account at a state-owned financial institution, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) told a news conference at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.
A Taipei resident was left in a vegetative state after a fall at a construction site, but his family’s application for disability benefits was denied because he did not have an account with a post office or state-owned bank, Ho said.
The Financial Supervisory Commission should amend the regulations, which serve no purpose other than to create work for civil servants, he said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The central and local governments must amend their regulations to ensure that people who qualify for social welfare receive their benefits, he added.
The convenience of civil servants does not outweigh the needs of 250,000 Taiwanese families that are qualified for welfare benefits, Ho said.
Taipei City Councilor Chung Pei-ling (鍾佩玲) said that the city government’s handling of the case has shown that the Taipei Department of Social Welfare is inflexible and had forgotten that its mission is to help the public.
“Bureaucratic sclerosis is getting in the way of protecting the rights of disadvantaged citizens,” said Chen Tang-bo (陳唐博), convener of the Social Safety Net for Daan and Wenshan Districts.
“The Taipei Department of Social Welfare should get rid of this regulation that violates the rights of people with mental and physical disabilities,” he said.
Officials representing the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Financial Supervisory Commission told the news conference that the application process would be re-evaluated and unreasonable requirements removed.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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