The Department of Health (DOH) is coordinating with local governments to speed up the installation of facilities for patients suspected of having SARS in 10 regional hospitals around the nation.
Since May 20, the two hospitals assigned to become hospitals for SARS patients in Taipei -- Sanchung Hospital and Sungshan Hospital -- have made available facilities for 92 and 102 SARS patients respectively.
The Chishan Hospital in Kaohsiung County announced yesterday that 49 negative pressure rooms in the hospital will be ready for SARS patients by June 5.
In central Taiwan, the Taichung Military Hospital entrusted to handle SARS cases will begin to accept suspected SARS patients in two weeks when its 44 negative pressure rooms are ready.
The 10 hospitals assigned to accommodate suspected SARS patients are the Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital and the Sungshan Military Hospital in Taipei City, Sanchung Hospital in Taipei County, the Taichung Military Hospital and Chunghsing Hospital in central Taiwan, the Tainan Military Hospital, Pingtung Military Hospital and Chishan Hospital in southern Taiwan, and the Hualien Military Hospital and Taitung Hospital in eastern Taiwan.
These hospitals will only handle suspected SARS cases, while the more critical probable SARS patients will be treated by research hospitals.
Since many of the hospitals do not have doctors specializing in infectious diseases or the respiratory system, the medical authorities are arranging special training programs for doctors and nurses.
Meanwhile, in Kaohsiung City, the city government has coordinated with the military to set up a suspected SARS-patient screening unit at a barracks for marines at Tsoying. The 41 negative pressure rooms, to be ready today, will accommodate patients transferred from nearby hospitals, although critical SARS patients will not be accepted.
Serving as a mid-way house for suspected SARS patients, the screening unit will only treat suspected SARS patients. Should a patient's situation deteriorate, the unit will transfer the patient to a research hospital.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS