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.
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