The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday urged the government to draft a special law on disease prevention and set up a NT$50 billion (US$1.66 billion) fund dedicated to disease prevention efforts.
The measures would support the government’s decision to use a registration system for the public to purchase masks during the coronavirus outbreak, the caucus said.
The new system, set to begin tomorrow, requires residents of Taiwan to present their National Health Insurance (NHI) cards when buying masks at more than 6,000 contracted pharmacies nationwide.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
While the KMT agrees the latest measure could prevent hoarding, a special fund would help diminish public losses due to class suspensions and parental leave, KMT caucus convener Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said.
The government should also consider how it can supply masks to those who really need them, such as commuters taking public transportation, he said.
Officials have given different answers on whether people should wear masks, KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) said, urging the government to provide a unified response to calm public fears.
KMT Legislator Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) questioned the decision to mobilize the military to boost mask production and called for a probe into potential ulterior motives to benefit manufacturers.
Important military command centers, such as the Hengshan Command Center, are all confined spaces and the government must provide contingency plans in case the president and others need to enter such areas, he added.
The KMT caucus on Monday called on China to support Taiwan’s participation in the WHO and the World Health Assembly.
Asked to comment on the statement, Wu — a retired army major general who has been criticized for his actions during a 2016 visit to China — said that his stance is the same as the KMT caucus, which is that he “strongly demands that the Mainland let Taiwan join the WHO.”
Disease prevention should not be politicized and Taiwan should be allowed to join the WHO and help global efforts to prevent the 2019 novel coronavirus from becoming a pandemic, he said.
In other news, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said that he would propose an amendment to the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) that would impose heavier fines for breaching quarantine rules.
The act states that people can only be fined after a disease has entered the human-to-human infection stage, Lin said.
His proposal would seek to provide legal grounds for the government to fine any person who refuses to be quarantined after diagnosis, he said.
DPP Legislator Lin Yi-chin (林宜瑾) agreed, saying that penalties should be increased.
Additional reporting by Peng Wan-hsien
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