The licensing of medical professionals with overseas degrees has again aroused heated debate, and many dentists held a protest in Taipei on Nov. 24.
The controversy stemmed from an amendment to the Physicians’ Act (醫師法) in 2001 allowing people who studied overseas to be qualified to take the first stage of the two-stage national medical licensing exam.
As more countries joined the EU after the passing of the amendment, overseas study agencies have advertised English-language medical programs in Europe, targeting people who could not qualify for local medical schools.
Examination Yuan data showed that, from the late 2000s, the number of Taiwanese who studied overseas and applied for the national medical licensing exam has increased consistently, especially those who studied in Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. As a result, many called them “Popo doctors/dentists” (波波醫生), which became a pejorative term.
In Taiwan, only the top 1 percent of students who take the national university entrance exam are eligible to enter domestic medical schools, and they usually take the first stage of the licensing exam during their school years, followed by an internship and the second stage of the exam.
The differences in qualification and allegedly in training among local and overseas graduates triggered a protest on May 31, 2009. About 2,000 doctors and local medical students demanded that the law be revised to limit overseas graduates’ participation in the licensing exam.
The Physicians’ Act was amended in 2022, requiring overseas graduates to pass a foreign degree evaluation test by the Ministry of Education to qualify for the first stage of the national licensing exam.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) last year announced a draft act that would allow an unspecified number of overseas dentistry graduates who have passed the first stage of the licensing exam to enroll in internships, which some locally trained dentists and students described as “opening a backdoor” to the field for overseas graduates.
At the same time, they opposed the MOHW’s NT$2.4 billion (US$73.94 million) plan for the second phase of a rural healthcare improvement program, which starts this year, allowing overseas dentistry graduates to apply for internships.
Their discontent resurfaced this month, after a court sentenced an obstetrician who had studied overseas to imprisonment for negligence causing death.
Amid public concerns, a list of hundreds of doctors who had studied abroad was leaked to the Internet. Local Chinese-language media reported that 41 of 69 graduates of a medical program in Poland in 2021 were Taiwanese and questioned their qualifications. Many people also called it “unfair,” saying many overseas graduates have physician parents or wealthy families.
After the Nov. 24 protest, the MOHW agreed to cap the internship quota of overseas dentistry graduates at 50 per year, tighten the qualifications for the foreign degree assessment and national medical licensing exam, and accept only local dental graduates to 55 rural areas in its healthcare program.
However, a local dentist alliance said that “our revolution has not yet succeeded” and demanded that the MOHW come up with “better solutions.”
On the other hand, a group of overseas graduates urged local dentists not to disparage or harass them.
Local doctors have suggested solutions such as increasing the cap for local medicine and dentistry departments, but the problem of hundreds of overseas graduates seeking a pathway to obtaining a medical license remains unsolved.
Trying to force a partnership between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and Intel Corp would be a wildly complex ordeal. Already, the reported request from the Trump administration for TSMC to take a controlling stake in Intel’s US factories is facing valid questions about feasibility from all sides. Washington would likely not support a foreign company operating Intel’s domestic factories, Reuters reported — just look at how that is going over in the steel sector. Meanwhile, many in Taiwan are concerned about the company being forced to transfer its bleeding-edge tech capabilities and give up its strategic advantage. This is especially
US President Donald Trump’s second administration has gotten off to a fast start with a blizzard of initiatives focused on domestic commitments made during his campaign. His tariff-based approach to re-ordering global trade in a manner more favorable to the United States appears to be in its infancy, but the significant scale and scope are undeniable. That said, while China looms largest on the list of national security challenges, to date we have heard little from the administration, bar the 10 percent tariffs directed at China, on specific priorities vis-a-vis China. The Congressional hearings for President Trump’s cabinet have, so far,
The US Department of State has removed the phrase “we do not support Taiwan independence” in its updated Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, which instead iterates that “we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait.” This shows a tougher stance rejecting China’s false claims of sovereignty over Taiwan. Since switching formal diplomatic recognition from the Republic of China to the People’s Republic of China in 1979, the US government has continually indicated that it “does not support Taiwan independence.” The phrase was removed in 2022
US President Donald Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have each given their thoughts on Russia’s war with Ukraine. There are a few proponents of US skepticism in Taiwan taking advantage of developments to write articles claiming that the US would arbitrarily abandon Ukraine. The reality is that when one understands Trump’s negotiating habits, one sees that he brings up all variables of a situation prior to discussion, using broad negotiations to take charge. As for his ultimate goals and the aces up his sleeve, he wants to keep things vague for
RSS