The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s long-term healthcare 2.0 project has grown to serve nearly four times the number of people it handled when it started five years ago, it told the Cabinet yesterday.
The program is serving 470,000 people, or 3.8 times more than in 2017, while its coverage has surged by more than 300 percent to cover 67.03 percent of the nation and its budget has increased to NT$60.7 billion (US$2 billion) since 2016, it said.
A Taiwan Marketing Research poll, commissioned by the ministry, showed that more than 90 percent of respondents over three consecutive years said they were satisfied with the program and how it alleviated stress for people caring for those with long-term illnesses.
Photo: CNA
The program received a 97.6 percent satisfaction rating last year, demonstrating that the public supports the initiative, the ministry said.
Since its inception, the program’s main goal has been to establish at-home, communal or stay-over healthcare for people who require long-term care, establish payment schemes for workers, guarantee wages for long-term healthcare workers, increase service coverage, and develop measures to prevent or slow the loss of cognitive abilities among older people.
The program provides care through three types of centers: Category A is comprised of communal integrative service centers, category B are composite service centers and category C consists of front-end care centers.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that the number of service locations across all three categories exceeded 11,000 nationwide, while the “one day care center per school area” project has also grown to 760 centers, with the two combining for a total national coverage rate of 65 percent.
Su has instructed the ministry to continue to improve the initiative and said he would ask agencies such as the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Financial Supervisory Commission to help with the program.
The health ministry said it wants the program to change the public’s perception of long-term healthcare, moving from all-day and one-on-one service models to daycare centers where a few workers can aid many people, or to a small-scale multifunctional family care service model.
The ministry is encouraging people to interact more with professional care workers and help “train” people to take more responsibility in caring for themselves to reduce their need for full-time care.
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
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday said that private-sector refiners are willing to stop buying Russian naphtha should the EU ask them to, after a group of non-governmental organizations, including the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), criticized the nation’s continued business with the country. While Taiwan joined the US and its Western allies in putting broad sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, it did not explicitly ban imports of naphtha, a major hard-currency earner for Russia. While state-owned firms stopped importing Russian oil in 2023, there is no restriction on private companies to
President William Lai (賴清德) is expected to announce a new advanced “all-domain” air defense system to better defend against China when he gives his keynote national day speech today, four sources familiar with the matter said. Taiwan is ramping up defense spending and modernizing its armed forces, but faces a China that has a far larger military and is adding its own advanced new weapons such as stealth fighter jets, aircraft carriers and a huge array of missiles. Lai is expected to announce the air defense system dubbed “Taiwan Dome” in his speech this morning, one of the sources said. The system
RSS