Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"Chiu insisted on resigning, so I accepted her resignation eventually. She offered her resignation on May 8 for the first time. I declined her resignation because the SARS epidemic was grave at that time," Ma said.
To fill the vacancy, Ma said Deputy Major Ou Chin-der (
Chiu offered to resign again on Tuesday but Ma insisted she needed to finish the battle against SARS.
"After having a talk with Chiu tonight, I agreed to allow her to retreat from the frontline of the battle against the disease," Ma said.
Ma said Chiu, who drew criticism after the city government hurriedly sealed off Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital after its SARS outbreak, told him she would take responsibility for turmoil at the hospital.
According to Ma, he agreed to let Chiu go because Taipei City reported only one to two probable SARS cases over the past several days, an indication that the epidemic has gradually stabilized.
While Chiu was under fire from the media, her deputy, BOH Deputy Director Hsu Chun-chiang (許君強), was also running into difficulty.
Reporters asked Hsu whether the bureau had privately apologized to Hoping doctor Chang Yu-tai (
Chang and his colleague Hsin Kuo-hui (辛國輝) expressed anger and disappointment after the bureau announced two days ago that the doctors would be fined NT$90,000 each for delaying reporting possible SARS cases.
Chang explained that the bureau gave notice to the doctors whose names appeared on the files of SARS patients whose cases had been reported late.
Chang said the Department of Infection in Hoping had asked him to sign the files that lacked a doctor's signature to help them accelerate reporting cases to the BOH.
"It was because I was courageous enough to take up the responsibility that I signed," Chang said.
"But the bureau did not even ask me why I signed before they punished me," he added.
Hsin also said he did not put off reporting cases to the infection department and hinted that the fault lay with the department itself. Infection department dean Lin Jung-ti (
The normal procedure the reporting of statutory communicable diseases is for a doctor to report the cases to the Department of Infection, which then reports them to the bureau.
But the bureau said this procedure was only for the hospitals' convenience and should not interfere with the reporting process and timeliness stipulated in the Communicable Disease Prevention Law.
"I just wanted my name cleared. I do not want to be associated with the likes of Lin," Chang said. "I have been working hard, but it appears to me now that those who do more are blamed more, and those who do less blamed less. My good deeds have come to an evil end."
Hsu, however, responded by saying, "there was no such thing as an apology."
"I did call Chang earlier. We are friends and of course there was the matter of sympathy. When I needed to mete out his punishment, I felt upset, as a friend, that he would be troubled by this. But I am a public servant and have to do what I have to do," Hsu said.
The bureau, meanwhile, had invited the doctors to explain the delayed reports.
Ma also thought nothing of not informing the doctors first about the possible upcoming punishments.
"Chances offered afterward to defend themselves are still chances offered," Ma said.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
RSS