The voluntary accreditation for aesthetic medical facilities promoted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare has failed to uphold its credibility, the Taiwan Women’s Link and Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) said yesterday, adding that a majority of facilities remain non-certified and some that have received certification have been found breaking the law.
One year has passed since the ministry started the accreditation scheme, but only 43, or 5 percent, of the nearly 800 aesthetic medical facilities in the country have applied for certification, the group said.
The number of those that have been successfully certified is even lower, Taiwan Woman’s Link director-general Huang Shu-ying (黃淑英) said.
Only 25 of the 43 facilities that applied have passed the evaluation, accounting for 3 percent of the total number of the facilities.
Not only have many aesthetic clinic chains operated by corporates remained non-certified, a majority of the 43 public hospitals with aesthetic medical centers also failed to take part in the government’s initiative, with only Veterans General Hospitals in Taipei, Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung procuring the certificate, Huang said.
She added that 20 percent of the few facilities that have been accredited violate the law on a regular basis by providing Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) treatment that has not been through clinical trials, and 40 percent are marketing aesthetic medical therapies on their official Web sites, which is illegal.
“Skin whitening injections [using PRP] have so far not been approved, so the advertisements we see on the streets should all be examined and curbed as they are very likely in violation of the law,” Wu said.
The group added that at least two certified aesthetic clinics are recommending therapies, offering consultations and medical diagnoses made by non-medical workers.
The ministry’s Department of Medical Affairs Director Lee Wui-chiang (李偉強) said in response that any medical facility advertising or conducting PRP treatments or skin whitening injections are in violation of the Medical Care Act (醫療法), and promotional activities or discounts for medical therapies are also in violation of regulations concerning advertisements for medical care.
Lee said that those that have obtained the certification, but failed to abide by the rules would be either stripped of the accreditation, temporarily or for good, adding that the certification system is not the government’s only supervisory measure, as the ministry has requested local health authorities to closely monitor aesthetic medical facilities on various fronts and is further expanding the inspection this year.
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
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
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
RSS