The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday expressed its sorrow over the death of pulmonologist Kao Kuo-chin (高國晉), hailing his dedication to medicine, including helping establish national clinical treatment guidelines for COVID-19.
The Taiwan Society of Critical Care Medicine on Sunday wrote on Facebook that Kao, the association’s chairman, had passed away at the age of 59.
The society said its members express their deepest condolences, and would remember his wholehearted contribution and hard work in the field of emergency and critical care medicine, as well as in a resilience project.
Photo: Screengrab from the Internet
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, where Kao was the head of the Department of Respiratory Therapy, confirmed his death on Sunday evening.
Chou Chia-yu (周嘉裕), a former head of Taipei Veterans General Hospital’s Department of Critical Care Medicine, on Sunday wrote on Facebook that he had learned that his friend Kao was found unconscious with no heartbeat in his office at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital on Sunday afternoon.
The CDC yesterday said their staff members were shocked by the news about Kao, a highly respected and valuable partner of the CDC in disease prevention.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) and CDC Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), on behalf of all disease prevention personnel, expressed their boundless grief as well as gratitude to Kao’s professional dedication, benevolence and contributions in protecting people’s health, the CDC said.
From January 2020 to May 2023, Kao was a member of the specialists’ meeting of the then-Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) for COVID-19, engaging in planning COVID-19 prevention policies and decisions, it said.
He provided suggestions and scientific evidence for setting the criteria for reporting cases, border control strategies, and the contingency plans for domestic testing and medical capacity preparation in the early stages of the pandemic, it said.
After local COVID-19 activity rapidly increased in May 2021, the CECC quickly set up a “COVID-19 severe cases clinical treatment experts’ advisory group,” with Kao again stepping forward to become an advisory committee member, it said, adding that he shared his vast experience, offered practical suggestions and gave online lectures.
The CDC said the content of his lectures were later compiled into a key documentary of severe COVID-19 medical care, an important reference for the field of critical care medicine in Taiwan.
Kao also participated in establishing the nation’s clinical treatment guidelines for COVID-19, as well as other important guidelines, and has made invaluable contributions to improving medical care quality for treating severe COVID-19, it said.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
RSS