Taipei Prison yesterday arranged for former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to undergo a follow-up medical exam and said that the results showed that Chen was in good health and that he only needs medical treatment in the prison, as opposed to medical parole.
Chen underwent a follow-up at Taoyuan General Hospital yesterday morning.
A group of Chen’s supporters gathered at the hospital lobby, shouting: “A-bian is innocent” when he arrived.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Hospital deputy superintendent Hsu Jin-chyr (徐錦池) led doctors from the departments of gastroenterology, cardiology, general chest medicine and urology to examine Chen, Taipei Prison deputy warden Su Ching-chun (蘇清俊) said, adding that Chen underwent an electrocardiogram, CT scan, MRI scan, echocardiogram, chest X-ray, endoscopic sedation and other checkups.
Hsu reported the results to Chen after the exams were completed, Su said. Chen’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), and Chen Shui-bian’s doctor, Kuo Chang-feng (郭長豐), who oversaw the checkup, were also briefed, he added.
Su quoted Hsu as saying that the former president’s heart, chest and lung functions were normal. His gastroesophageal reflux disease has improved, cholesterol reading dropped and he suffers only a slight inflammation of his urology system, Hsu was quoted as saying.
Doctors have ordered that Chen Shui-bian to take medicine and have follow-ups about every four to eight weeks to cure the urology problem, Su said, adding that his physical condition is good and that he does not qualify for medical parole.
Chen Shui-bian, serving a 17-and-a-half-year prison term on corruption charges, was transported from Taipei Prison to the hospital at about 6am and was returned to the prison at 10:30am.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Hsu Chun-hsin (許忠信), who accompanied Chen Shui-bian to the hospital, however, said the former president’s physical and mental conditions were very feeble. Hsu expressed concern over Chen Shui-bian’s physical and mental health should he remain imprisoned.
Political parties and various rights groups in Taiwan and the US have called on the government to release the former president on humanitarian grounds, saying that his conditions in prison are contributing to his deteriorating health.
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
RSS