Taiwan needs to revamp research into stomach cancer and increase National Health Insurance (NHI) coverage for targeted therapy to fight the disease, medical experts said yesterday.
Although the government plans to expand NHI coverage to Helicobacter pylori screening, the measure alone would not be enough, National Cheng Kung University Hospital superintendent Shan Yan-shen (沈延盛) told a news conference in Taipei.
The nation on average reported 4,000 new cases of stomach cancer annually, with the tumor progressing to a late or terminal stage for 35 percent of the patients, he said at the event hosted by the Gastroenterological Society of Taiwan.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
Citing a global study by the Concord Cancer Center dated 2018, he said that Taiwanese gastric cancer patients’ survival rates in the past three decades improved by three points to 38 percent, lagging far behind Japan and South Korea.
The main reason for the nation’s failure to make significant progress was inadequate screening and limited choice of drugs, he said.
Starting this year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is subsidizing checkups to screen people between 50 years and 74 years old for the bacterium in 17 jurisdictions to facilitate prevention and early treatment, he said.
As the bacterium is not present in more than 50 percent of Taiwanese patients, the measure would have a limited effect, Shen said, adding that doctors need to discover the factor driving the cancer and devise a new screening strategy.
At-risk groups should be encouraged to take gastroscopy exams, he said.
Members of the public must know having trouble swallowing and discomforts in the lower sternum, bloating after eating normal portions and pain from having an empty stomach are signs of stomach cancer, he said.
NHI covered only 6 percent of targeted treatments for patients with HER2-positive gastric cancer, said Chen Jen-hsi (陳仁熙), a doctor at the Taipei branch of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.
Meanwhile, patients with HER2-negative gastric cancer — which accounts for the overwhelming majority of cases — still have limited options for insurance-covered treatments, especially Stage IV drugs, he said.
Authorizing more types of targeted therapy for NHI would save lives, as such procedures have reduced stomach cancer fatality by 25 percent, he said.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
RSS