Several DPP Taipei City councilors urged Bureau of Health Director Chiu Shu-ti (
"Now that Twu has resigned, shouldn't [Chiu] resign?" DPP Councilor Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) demanded yesterday during a council session.
In response to Wang's questioning, Chiu said that she had already offered her written resignation to the mayor last week.
Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in support of Chiu, said, "I declined to accept Chiu's resignation because we are still struggling to gain control of SARS. It is simply not the right time for her to go."
Other DPP councilors raised similar questions.
DPP councilor Yen Sheng-kuan (
Ma said he did not know whether hospital outbreaks were going to happen again, and it was not the right time to change officials. "Otherwise, it could affect the morale of the SARS fighters," Ma said.
Although Ma was insistent on keeping Chiu, both he and Chiu offered their public apologies during the council meeting.
"I am sorry that the Taipei City Government could not control the epidemic immediately," Ma said.
Ma and Chiu also bowed to the councilors, as a gesture of apology to Taipei's citizens.
The gesture of remorse did not seem to impress the councilors. Some attacked Ma himself, instead of focusing on Chiu.
Wang told Ma, "All evidence so far has pointed towards Wu having been responsible for what happened in [Taipei Municipal} Hoping Hospital. Why did you decide to send him to Hoping when he was on trial for corruption in a purchase scandal?"
Ma replied by saying, "The trial was closed and Wu was proven innocent before he was made the Hoping superintendent."
Wang insisted that the trial was still ongoing.
DPP councilors also voiced their opposition to a plan for having Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital focus on SARS treatment.
"If Hoping is going to have its equipment upgraded to care for more SARS patients, then other municipal hospitals should follow Hoping's example," New Party Councilor Chen I-chou (陳義洲) said.
"Why should Hoping take in more SARS patients than than other hospitals? Hoping is too close to the local residents, and the area around Hoping is densely populated. Is it really suitable for Hoping to take in so many SARS patients?" Chen demanded.
Ma answered that, "It would be nice if we could have a hospital big enough to contain all the SARS patients in one place, as they do in Singapore. "But Taipei simply cannot do this, due to a lack of resources," he said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
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