Thirty new medical services are now available to patients as part of the National Health Insurance scheme, including genetic cancer screenings able to detect seven different strains of cancer, after having been introduced Dec. 1, the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) said today.
The new services are to be awarded 123 million NHI points (1 point being approximately equal to NT$0.9 of funding) to benefit 66,000 patients annually, with an investment of NT$110 million (US$3.4 million), it said.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
The NHI is to award 5,000,000 NHI points to cover the Ozaki procedure for patients under the age of 18 with aortic valve disease, a new surgical procedure to reconstruct the aortic valve with a high recovery rate which reduces the need to repeat surgeries, which would benefit approximately 13 patients per year, NHIA Medical Affairs Division Director Chen Yi-chieh (陳依婕) said.
Moreover, patients are currently tested for prostate cancer with the prostate-specific antigen test (PSA), known for its poor reliability, but the NHI will now offer the prostate-specific antigen isoform (p2PSA) test to an estimated 19,000 patients per year, which is more accurate, eliminates the need for invasive biopsies and reduces the risk of complications, Chen said.
The NHI is to also offer testing for the hepatitis B core related antigen (HBcrAg), a biomarker that indicates viral replication of hepatitis B, Chen said, with the new testing to reduce the high relapse-rate and risk of complications among patients with chronic hepatitis B who stop antiviral treatment, helping an estimated 34,000 patients per year.
From May this year, the NHI has offered next-generation sequencing (NGS), a DNA and RNA sequencing technology that screens for 12 types of cancer, and the NHI is to add a further seven genetic cancer screenings which are to help clinicians create personalized treatment plans for patients, helping approximately 10,000 cancer patients per year, the NHIA said.
As medical technology is continually developing, new medical treatments are to continue to be added and revised under the NHI budget, working together with medical experts and insurance plan holders to offer patients the latest medical technology, it said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS