A “green channel” has been established to give priority access when applying to hire migrant caregivers, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said today, after amendments passed last year raised concerns about whether adequate care would still be accessible to families most in need.
Long-term care would still be made available during the application process, while the scope of eligibility for the priority channel would be announced shortly by the Ministry of Labor, it said.
The Legislative Yuan last year passed amendments to Article 46 of the Employment Service Act (就業服務法), allowing people aged 80 and older to bypass Barthel Index-based health evaluations, rendering them eligible to hire migrant caregivers.
Photo: Taipei Times
The Barthel Index is a widely used tool in Taiwan to assess a person’s ability to perform daily activities.
The amendments would give an additional 100,000 people access caregivers, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lue Jen-der (呂建德) said today.
The health and labor ministries have held multiple interministerial meetings to discuss ways to ensure adequate care for families in serious need, he said.
Measures are expected to be implemented later this month or early next month, he added.
The ministries are to divide responsibilities, with the labor ministry handling families with members older than 80 who are not seriously ill, while the health ministry would focus on cases involving more serious conditions, Department of Long-Term Care head Chu Chien-fang (祝健芳) said.
Long-term Care Management Centers would handle applications and direct cases to the relevant ministry for review, he said.
Moreover, the health ministry would soon launch programs to train personnel how to review migrant caregiver applications and ensure that all “green channel” applications are handled within a one-day turnaround, he said.
The ministry would then refer cases to the Cross-Border Workforce Management Division to match suitable caregivers, he added.
There are currently 65 people within local governments tasked with reviewing migrant caregiver applications, which the health ministry aims to increase to 101 this year, Chu said.
The health ministry has already applied to increase the workforce and the labor ministry agreed to provide additional funding in stages, after which local governments would distribute personnel based on case volume, he added.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS