Amendments to the HIV Infection Control and Patient Rights Protection Act (人類免疫缺乏病毒傳染防治及感染者權益保障條例) that allow organ transplants between HIV-positive people cleared the legislative floor yesterday.
The amendments would allow HIV-positive people to donate organs, bodily fluids, tissue or cells to other HIV carriers as long as the recipients sign an agreement to undergo the transplant.
The organs, bodily fluids, tissue and cells of people with HIV are otherwise unusable, and those who offer to donate such body parts to HIV-negative people would risk a fine of between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000, one amendment says.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The amendments were proposed while taking into consideration the need for organ transplants by HIV-positive people and after referencing the US’ HIV Organ Policy Equity Act and successful organ transplants in the UK between HIV-positive people, the Executive Yuan said, explaining its version of the legislation.
As of Sept. 30 last year, there were 33,850 HIV-positive people in Taiwan, all of whom could be potential donors or recipients for organ transplants, said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Arthur Chen (陳宜民), who helped push for the legislation.
Apart from the US and the UK, Spain has also allowed organ transplants between HIV-positive people, he said.
Japan, despite not having legalized organ transplants between HIV carriers, has had six successful such operations, which had no discernible difference in the survival rate of recipients compared with HIV-negative people, he added.
One of the amendments, initiated by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀), says that although people with HIV are legally required to inform paramedics when seeking medical help that they are HIV-positive or risk a penalty, those who are unconscious, in a state of decreased consciousness or whose privacy would be infringed upon as a result of disclosing such information would be exempted from the regulation.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
RSS