The young girl who was refused entry to a series of Taipei hospitals after being severely injured by her abusive father will be declared brain-dead today, medical officials said yesterday.
Executive deputy superintendent Tung Jui-lung (
Chiu had been severely beaten by her father before being forced to travel to Taichung for treatment after being turned away at the Municipal Jen Ai Hospital and other Taipei City hospitals.
The resulting uproar triggered an investigation into why Chiu was refused treatment when there were sufficient beds in the hospitals.
The Department of Health declared on Friday that it would make changes to a national system for patient transfers.
The new system is expected to take effect in June.
After discussions with various hospital and emergency surgical experts on Friday, the department decided that it would establish six medical-care sectors.
Within each sector, hospitals will be classified according to a three-point scale based on medical-care capability.
In the new system, patients needing emergency care must be accepted by "grade one" hospitals in the sector and cannot be transferred to hospitals in other sectors.
In the event of a large-scale medical emergency, however, patients will be transferred to hospitals between sectors as needed via the national Emergency Operations Center.
The six sectors will be aligned with the nation's six national health insurance divisions: the Taipei region, including Taipei City, Taipei County and Ilan; the northern region, including greater Hsinchu and Miaoli counties; the central region, including greater Taichung, Changhua and Nantou counties; the southern region, including Yunlin, Chiayi, and Tainan; a region including Kaohsiung City, Kaohsiung County and Pingtung; and an eastern region, including Hualien and Taitung counties.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees