Department of Health Deputy Director-General Twu Shiing-jer (
Addressing a medal presentation ceremony at the Executive Yuan yesterday afternoon, Yu announced that Twu will become the acting director-general on Sunday and that he was not looking for anyone else to take the position permanently.
PHOTO: CHU YU-PIN, TAIPEI TIMES
"He'll be performing the task of the director but without the title," Yu said.
"As Twu will be acting director for a period of time, I'm not looking for any potential candidates for the time being," Yu said.
Twu, who served as the director of the Bureau of Health when Chen Shu-bian (
Yu would not explain why Twu was not being given the title director-general, but said he had looked at other candidates for the position.
"Although I've asked several candidates about the job, some hesitated to leave their current jobs, some lacked political experience and others feel uncomfortable answering to the Legislative Yuan," Yu said.
Lee, who has been suffering from asthma and high blood pressure, received a medal for his outstanding performance as the department's director-general over the seven months since Yu took office in February. Lee has held the position since Chen won the presidential election in 2000.
Yu praised Lee for his guts in pushing for reform, especially in raising the insurance premiums for the national health insurance scheme, which has drawn criticism from the opposition parties and labor groups.
"When it comes to reforms, he doesn't hesitate and totally forgets about his physical problems," Yu said. "The new insurance scheme -- the largest-scale reform of its kind since the launch of the program eight years ago -- wouldn't have been completed without his guts and determination."
In addition to thanking Yu and his co-workers for their support and cooperation, Lee said that he would continue to contribute to society if the government called upon him again.
"Although I'll soon leave my post, I'll continue to make personal contributions as a civilian for the betterment of the country," Lee said.
Lee, who is on leave from the Buddhist Tzu-Chi University in Hualien City, where he served as its president for nearly eight years, will return to the school and resume teaching.
Twu, who also attended yesterday's ceremony, said that he would do his best to continue where his predecessor left off.
"The first thing I'll have to tackle is the outbreak of dengue fever in Kaohsiung County. I'll go down south again as soon as I get the chance," he said.
Also high on the agenda, Twu said, is the new national health insurance scheme, which will go into effect on his first day as acting director-general.
"We'll do our job in accordance with the timetable set down by my predecessor," Twu said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS