Taipei residents aged 40 to 64 who receive a government-funded adult health examination in the city could receive an six additional tests for a limited time only, the city’s Department of Health said yesterday.
The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) provides a free health examination every three years for people aged 40 to 64, and an annual examination for people aged 65 or older, indigenous people aged 55 or older and polio patients who are 35 or older.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said 21 percent of the city’s residents are aged 65 or older and the city’s average life expectancy is 83.75 years, which is 3.91 years more than the national average.
Photo: Chiang Tsai-chen, Taipei Times
As people are living longer, it is important that they are healthy and happy, which can be achieved by disease prevention, early detection and treatment, so the city government is offering six extra tests along with the HPA’s adult health examination, he said.
Until Oct. 31, or until all the slots are filled, city residents aged 40 to 64 who received the HPA’s health exam at Taipei City Hospital’s branches (excluding the Songde branch) would be eligible for the extra tests, Chiang said.
Taipei Department of Health Commissioner Chen Yen-yuan (陳彥元) said the six extra items test a person’s blood urea nitrogen, uric acid, glycated hemoglobin and blood count, as well as for thyroid-stimulating hormone and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 — a antigen associated with tumors.
The six tests usually cost about NT$1,000, but would be offered free of charge to eligible recipients for a limited time, the department said.
The HPA’s Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan for 2017-2020 found that the prevalence of high blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipids — or the “three highs” — was 26 percent, 11 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
The “three highs” are the most common chronic conditions among people in Taiwan and there are usually no early signs that someone has one of the conditions, but many of the 10 leading causes of death are associated with them, Chen said.
The HPA’s adult health examination includes tests to detect the “three highs,” so the department encourages adults aged 40 or older to go for a health examination regularly to detect conditions early and reduce the risk of more serious harm to their health, he said.
The department said that people aged 45 to 79 who have received the HPA’s free one-time hepatitis B and hepatitis C screening test would also be eligible to participate in a lottery for cash prizes.
To be in with a chance those who are eligible should register on the department’s Web site before Dec. 31, it said.
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