The father of a two-year-old boy who last month died of COVID-19 yesterday asked why it took more than an hour to find an ambulance to take his son to a hospital, saying the delay led to his son’s death.
“What exactly happened during those 81 minutes?” he wrote on Facebook.
The boy died on April 19 following six days of treatment in an intensive care unit at Shuang Ho Hospital in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和).
Photo: Lai Hsiao-yung, Taipei Times
He was the first child in Taiwan to die of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in 2020.
Attributing the cause of the child’s death to the rapid deterioration of his condition after he developed severe symptoms, the hospital said at the time that he died of brain stem encephalitis resulting from septicemia triggered by COVID-19.
Prior to the boy’s death, nobody under 30 had died of COVID-19 complications in Taiwan.
Photo courtesy of EnEn’s family
“After En En [恩恩, the boy’s name] tested positive for the disease with a high fever, we repeatedly called the Jhonghe District Public Health Center, but the call was never answered. We called the New Taipei City Fire Department, which asked us to get approval from the health center first, and then dialed 119 four times before an ambulance was dispatched,” the father said. “We waited 81 minutes for the ambulance to come, and that was the hardest and longest time in our lives.”
“Recalling the situation, we were utterly hopeless and as his father I feel great regret and heartbreak,” he said. “I want the authorities to tell us the truth. Why it took 81 minutes for the ambulance to come, and why En En was only able to get to the hospital 91 minutes later.”
The father said he and his wife have sent an application to the New Taipei City Government, the Centers for Disease Control, Jhonghe health center and the 1922 hotline, asking them to release the call records.
In response to media queries yesterday, New Taipei City Mayor Hou you-yi (侯友宜) refrained from commenting, saying only that “every life must be treasured and everything possible must be done to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.”
New Taipei City Department of Health Director Chen Ran-chou (陳潤秋) said “everything that should have been done was done,” and the ambulance was dispatched in accordance with Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) guidelines.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, yesterday said that recordings of 1922 hotline calls are preserved for a year, and an applicant should present their ID to access the recordings.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern
RSS