The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it would study the feasibility of subsidizing oocyte cryopreservation — the extraction and freezing of egg cells — after city councilors proposed the idea to help boost the city’s birthrate.
Several councilors at a Taipei City Council committee hearing proposed providing subsidies to women aged 25 to 40 to freeze their eggs to improve their chances of conceiving later in life.
Women are having children later on average, but egg freezing is prohibitively expensive for most, Taipei City Councilor Chen E-jun (陳怡君) said.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
Chen suggested requiring a doctor’s consultation and proof of the procedure to receive a one-time subsidy of NT$30,000, followed by NT$5,000 for each of the following three years to pay for storage.
The funds would only be the “tip of the iceberg,” as the procedure typically costs NT$30,000 to NT$100,000, Chen said.
GIVING BIRTH LATER
In 2021, 30 percent of all births were by women aged 35 or older, Taipei City Councilor Yen Juo-fang (顏若芳) said, citing Ministry of the Interior data.
In Taipei, the figure was higher than 40 percent, she said.
The average age a woman has her first child has risen by 1.68 years over the past decade to 33.34 in 2021, Taipei City Councilor Liu Tsai-wei (柳采葳) said.
As egg quality gradually declines with age, in vitro fertilization tends to be more successful with younger eggs, Taipei Fertility Center physician Jason Ho (何彥秉) said.
In addition, the egg recovery rate with modern fast-freezing technology exceeds 90 percent, making it a low-risk procedure, he added.
Taipei City Councilor Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) said that marriage should not be a requirement to qualify for the subsidy, as it would exclude unmarried people and same-sex couples.
Taoyuan is already offering the subsidy, she said, asking why Taipei, as the nation’s largest city, is not doing the same.
Taipei City Councilor Lee Yen-chang (李彥昌) proposed studying the results of similar policies in other municipalities before Taipei issues subsidies.
The city should also encourage women to use the eggs later on, he said, adding that people might take the money and never use the service.
The city’s health department is to convene a meeting of experts to discuss the possibility of offering a subsidy, Taipei Department of Health Commissioner Chen Yen-yuan (陳彥元) told the councilors.
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
RSS