Consumption of sleeping pills in Taiwan has been increasing each year, with nearly one-fifth of the population taking about 1.5 billion pills last year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.
Insomnia is on the rise, with a survey of 600 people by the Taiwan Society of Sleep Medicine in 2019 indicating that 10.7 percent of daytime workers had insomnia, while the prevalence rate among shift workers was 23.3 percent.
The number of people who consumed sleeping pills grew from about 4.19 million in 2017 to about 4.41 million last year, while total consumption increased from about 880 million to 1.5 billion during the same period, National Health Insurance (NHI) data showed.
Photo: Chen Chien-chih, Taipei Times
NHI claims for sleeping pill prescriptions by healthcare facilities showed that 45 percent came from clinics, with psychiatry, family medicine and internal medicine departments being the three leading dispensers of the medication at 32 percent, 24 percent and 17 percent respectively.
The NHI system does not limit which medical departments can prescribe sleeping pills, but doctors cannot authorize more than one pill per day, said Chang Hui-ping (張惠萍), deputy head of the National Health Insurance Administration’s Medical Review and Pharmaceutical Benefits Division.
Prescribing sleeping pills for more than six straight months is also inadvisable, Chang said.
If a person needs to take sleeping pills for a longer period, the doctor should write down the reason in the patient’s medical record and the patient should be referred to a psychiatry department for further assessment, she added.
NHI claims by psychiatry clinics accounted for only about 20 percent of all sleeping pill prescriptions; the larger percentage — sometimes reaching more than 50 percent — came from non-psychiatry clinics, Chang said.
The percentage of cases with a sleeping pill prescription also increased from 4 percent to 19 percent in a year at some clinics.
The NHI has issued a notice to medical associations reminding them to tighten management of sleeping pill prescriptions, as some clinics prescribed nearly as many sleeping pills as psychiatry clinics, she said.
There have been reports of all members of one family or people working in the same office seeking treatment together and getting sleeping pills at the same time, she added.
Taiwan Association of Family Medicine president Huang Hsin-chang (黃信彰) said that as holistic healthcare has become a trend, doctors might be inclined to prescribe medicine according to a patient’s needs, which makes it more convenient for the patients and also saves NHI resources.
Many family doctors will first instruct their patients to practice non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as exercising, avoiding caffeine after 3pm, and finding ways to reduce mental stress, he said.
Taiwan Medical Association board member and Taiwan Society of Internal Medicine’s NHI policy committee member Wang Fong-yu (王宏育) said that many people have sleeping disorders because of stress, and the COVID-19 pandemic has added to their numbers.
As use of holistic health care and comprehensive outpatient clinics has been increasing, more doctors act more like family doctors, assessing each patient’s general condition, rather than advising them to seek a specialist if they have trouble sleeping, he said.
Asking people to seek further treatment by consulting different medical departments would also mean more diagnostic fees, he said.
Many medical associations have learning courses reminding physicians to prescribe medicine for sleeping disorders step by step, such as beginning with antihistamines, then muscle relaxants and anxiolytics, before prescribing sleeping pills, Wang said.
If any of the medication has a negative effect on the patient, they should refer the patient to a sleep specialist, Wang said.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the meeting next month, Japanese sources said The holding of a Japan-US leaders’ meeting ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China is positive news for Taiwan, former Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association representative Hiroyasu Izumi said yesterday. After the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Japan’s House of Representatives election, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is scheduled to visit the US next month, where she is to meet with Trump ahead of the US president’s planned visit to China from March 31 to April 2 for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the
RSS