The Taipei City Government made a number of mistakes when it sealed off Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital to contain an outbreak of SARS there late last month, members of a Control Yuan panel investigating the issue said yesterday.
"The blockade decision revealed three problems," said Chao Chang-ping (
Chao made the remarks in a press conference after the Control Yuan's investigation committee finalized the meeting with Wu Kang-wen (
The Control Yuan questioned whether the decision was made without considering the hospital's situation, such as how many patients, family members and staff members would be left in the hospital and whether they would be given sufficient care during the quarantine, a Control Yuan member said.
Chao said the investigation committee found that the authorities failed to set up a command center right after deciding to impose the quarantine order.
"The lack of an efficient and timely response system might have caused the quarantine measures to be implemented haphazardly."
Six of the seven reported SARS cases that were disclosed by the hospital during the first outbreak were staff members, Chao said, adding that a further investigation will be needed to find out why there was such a high infection rate among hospital personnel.
Chao's colleague Chang Te-ming (張德銘) said the hospital's administration needs to explain the measures adopted after receiving the central health department's reminder about the pneumonia-like epidemic in mid-March.
"The committee's probe will go deep to the city government and the hospital administration's handling of SARS prevention measures between March 14 and April 12, when the first suspected SARS case was revealed at the hospital," Chang said.
He confirmed that the Control Yuan will cope with the issue when it questions former Taipei City Health Bureau Director Chiu Shu-ti (
Chang expressed doubt that the quarantine could have further exacerbated those patients who were being treated for serious illnesses when the quarantine order was announced.
Liao Jiann-nan (廖健男), another Control Yuan member on the investigation committee, said the Control Yuan's investigation will focus on the how the hospital reported and recorded its SARS cases.
"The hospital's reporting system could be problematic, since we learned from the former hospital superintendent's statement that a superintendent would not be involved in the reporting procedure whereas doctors should be the ones who take responsibility for the late reporting of cases," Liao said.
Earlier yesterday, the ad hoc committee met with Chen Tzay-jinn (
"It is regrettable that the government was unable to make a timely response to the outbreak regarding emergency measures and risk management," Chao said after meeting with the former CDC chief.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS