The Health Promotion Administration yesterday said its Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT) interviewers would acquire the consent of participants before performing checkups, and they would not take blood samples in the participants’ home, after a woman complained on Facebook about interviewers’ alleged conduct.
A woman on Thursday shared a letter on Facebook allegedly from Academia Sinica’s NAHSIT team, commissioned by the agency to perform the survey.
About three months ago, an Academia Sinica researcher visited her home, holding an official document and asked to take blood samples of her child, the woman wrote.
Photo: CNA
The researcher had the child’s personal information, so she questioned the authenticity and safety of the survey, she added.
When she refused to let her child’s blood be drawn, the interviewer said the borough warden and local public health center had been informed and asked why she refused, she wrote.
The agency on Friday said the survey is conducted according to the Nutrition and Healthy Diet Promotion Act (營養及健康飲食促進法), and it commissions an academic institute every four years, with Academia Sinica conducting it from 2021 to last year.
The Executive Yuan’s Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, and an institutional review board (IRB) approved the survey, it said, adding that professionally trained interviewers would acquire the participants’ signature of consent before conducting surveys and checkups, and that personal data are stored confidentially.
Local media on Friday last week reported that an official, responding to the incident, said that participants “might as well consider it a free health exam, as it is fairly expensive to get at a hospital.”
The Human Subject Protection Association in Taiwan on Saturday issued a statement condemning the Health Promotion Administration for allegedly misleading people by mentioning a “free health exam.”
When people have doubts about participating in the survey, the agency should clarify whether the survey had been conducted strictly according to an IRB-approved protocol and respect people’s right to reject, rather than misleading them and trying to convince them to get a “free health exam,” the association said.
The Health Promotion Administration on Sunday apologized for the case causing distress to people, saying that it would reflect and improve its operational procedures, as well as strengthen its interviewers’ capability to explain the survey and protect interviewees’ rights.
The agency’s Surveillance, Research and Health Education Division Director Lin Yi-ching (林宜靜) yesterday said the NAHSIT interviewers would certainly obtain participants’ signature of consent before conducting a survey and arranging a checkup for them.
Checkups, including physical examination and blood tests, would be conducted by healthcare professionals, so they would not be performed at participants’ homes, Lin said.
With scams becoming rampant over the past few years, it is a good thing that people have become more vigilant, she said.
However, it also creates more obstacles for governmental surveys, as rejection rates by targeted participants have been increasing consistently, she said.
The agency would continue to promote the NAHSIT and explain it to people, and hopefully more people would understand the survey’s importance and be willing to participate in it, she added.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
RSS