Short-term support needed
Taiwan has been an aging society for some time. The government has established a long-term care system, providing services and facilities to take care of the elderly and the disabled. The government should also provide assistance for short-term care, which is usually more urgently needed and expensive.
In an emergency room or operating room, the patients’ family members, relatives or friends are always there, waiting anxiously. They worry about how they could cope with the sudden changes as a result of the patients’ injuries or illness.
Their lives are very likely to be disrupted due to their financial circumstances and the urgent need to take care of the patients. Their work and careers might be affected as well. They need to be at the hospital to take care of the patients, and they have to take days off from work. It is unfortunate that some might have to quit their jobs because of company regulations.
The costs of a daily intensive care unit or surgical treatment are astronomical. When the patient is transferred to a general ward, the nursing fees are a few thousand New Taiwan dollars per day (The going rate is between NT$2,500 and NT$3,500 for a 24-hour caregiver). There are also basic medical expenses to be counted. For everything, one would have to spend more than NT$100,000 per month. How many people could afford all of this? It is unfortunate but true that the poor simply cannot afford to become ill.
The government could provide some subsidies for those in need of short-term care, as it does for those relying on the long-term care system. The following suggestions might be helpful:
First, family members of a patient who needs to stay in an intensive care unit, with valid proof from the hospital, should be able to apply for short-term caregiver assistance for a month beforehand, so that when the patient is transferred to a general ward, they do not have to worry about this issue.
Second, if a patient is admitted to a general ward and is diagnosed as unable to walk or eat on their own, they should be able to apply for short-term care assistance provided by a professional caregiver.
Third, when the patient is discharged from the hospital, with a doctor’s diagnosis of being incapable of walking or eating on their own, they could apply for professional short-term care services for up to two months.
Fourth, similar to the current long-term care system, the aforementioned applicants could keep applying for the assistance by using the Barthel index until long-term care services are available to them.
With the short-term care services above, family members could stay employed and earn a stable income, and their companies could operate without disruption. It would also help foreign professional caregivers in Taiwan to be transferred in a more convenient way, so that the problem of high fees for hiring a short-term caregiver could be solved.
This would also refine the management of short-term caregivers and lower the expenses for such services without causing major changes or humanitarian issues.
Hsu Yu-min
Taipei
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