Minister of Health and Welfare Chiang Been-huang (蔣丙煌) yesterday announced a government plan to sign emergency medical service agreements with as many countries as possible, but downplayed controversy over reports that it refused to accept overseas medical assistance following the Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) fire on June 27.
Chiang made the remarks at a news conference held to announce the latest development of the incident, during which he said the plan was meant to ensure sufficient medical resources in the event of a larger casualty count in a future catastrophe.
“The signing of agreements will allow foreign medical teams to jump in immediately after a tragedy without any legal hiccups,” Chiang said. “It would also allow Taiwan to lend a helping hand to countries stricken by catastrophes.”
Photo: CNA
However, Chiang gave an ambiguous response when pressed on rumors that the ministry had turned down foreign medical aid to treat people affected by the blasts and ensuing fire in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里) last weekend due to legal concerns.
“I have to emphasize how much we appreciate and welcome some foreign countries’ proposals to send their medical specialists to Taiwan to help treat the large number of people,” Chiang said.
However, he said the assistance foreign medical personnel offer must conform to the nation’s laws, adding that the number of Taiwanese physicians trained to handle burns was enough to treat the nearly 500 patients.
On Friday, Chiang said the Physicians Act (醫師法) bans foreigners from practicing in Taiwan, incurring criticism over the ministry’s “rigid” adherence to the rules when people badly need care and hospitals face personnel shortages.
Chiang made the remarks after offers of help from Japan and the US.
Japan’s Association of Medical Doctors of Asia president Shigeru Suganami and Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine president Yoshihito Ujike on Thursday offered to send 10 doctors and 40 paramedics to Taiwan to assist in treatment of the burns patients.
Taipei’s representative office in Washington on Friday said that the American Burn Association and the burn unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital both offered to provide medical supplies, equipment and personnel.
Under the rules, foreign physicians can only play supportive roles in treatments by providing guidance, getting medical materials ready or providing consultations about treatment plans, rather than be directly involved in treating patients, Department of Medical Affairs director Wang Tsung-hsi (王宗曦) said on Friday.
Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said it was up to the ministry to decide whether to suggest that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) put forward an emergency decree to temporarily suspend the rules.
Taiwan Medical Association chairman Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) said earlier yesterday that the association was to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for medical service cooperation with its Japanese counterpart soon and that Japan’s medical teams could arrive in Taiwan on Thursday next week at the earliest, if all went well.
“We and our Japanese counterparts had already scheduled to sign the MOU on July 30 after years of negotiations. In light of the blast, we have decided to bring forward the signing of the document,” Su said.
Separately yesterday, Taiwan Medical Association secretary-general Tsai Ming-chung (蔡明忠) said that in the upcoming weeks, the nation would likely see a wave of deaths among critically injured people affected by the blast.
“The public must understand that patients with severe burns or inhalation injuries are highly prone to death. Despite extensive care, it is inevitable that those who are severely injured are to enter a ‘peak period for deaths’ soon,” Tsai said after visiting patients at Taichung Veterans General Hospital.
Tsai said he was not being a “jinx,” stressing that whole-body infections usually occurred after the second week of serious burn cases and that only patients who made it through the first month could be considered stable.
According to the ministry, the number of people in critical conditions increased from 211 on Friday to 230 yesterday.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
MORE DEMOCRACY: The only solution to Taiwan’s current democratic issues involves more democracy, including Constitutional Court rulings and citizens exercising their civil rights , Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is not the “motherland” of the Republic of China (ROC) and has never owned Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. The speech was the third in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to deliver across Taiwan. Taiwan is facing external threats from China, Lai said at a Lions Clubs International banquet in Hsinchu. For example, on June 21 the army detected 12 Chinese aircraft, eight of which entered Taiwanese waters, as well as six Chinese warships that remained in the waters around Taiwan, he said. Beyond military and political intimidation, Taiwan