Former Department of Health minister Lin Fang-yue (林芳郁) yesterday officially took over as the new superintendent of Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH), despite opposition from some of the staff at the hospital.
At the inauguration ceremony, Lin said he felt like “a bride marrying into her husband’s family,” and that he was willing to make adjustments to become part of the TVGH family.
“I am proud to be appointed superintendent of TVGH, the leading hospital in Taiwan,” Lin said. “From this moment on … I will work hard with everyone to achieve the hospital’s goals and lead it to becoming an internationally recognized, first-class hospital.”
As superintendent, Lin said he hoped to develop medical care for the elderly, improve the hospital’s cooperation with other hospitals and medical research centers, as well as focus medical research on the biomedical field.
Lin was accompanied by his wife Lin Ching-yun(林靜芸), celebrity cosmetic surgeon and founder of Jean’s Clinic of Plastic Surgery.
Most of the TVGH department heads attended Lin’s inauguration ceremony, which was overseen by Kao Hua-chu (高華柱), director of the Executive Yuan’s Veterans Affairs Commission.
Lin said he hoped his entering the TVGH system would be a first step toward breaking down the walls that separate different hospital systems in Taiwan.
He said he would thoroughly become a “TVGH person,” a term many use to describe hospital personnel that work within the TVGH system, as opposed to a “National Taiwan University [NTU] person,” which describes someone who works in or graduated from NTU or National Taiwan University Hospital.
As the first superintendent of TVGH who was not promoted from within the system in the hospital’s 50-year history, Lin’s appointment has been met with opposition from both outside and within the hospital.
Earlier this month, former TVGH superintendent Lo Kwang-juei (羅光瑞), as well as several other retired and current hospital staff and department heads, held a press conference to openly criticize the appointment as politically motivated.
Last week, a local newspaper ran an advertisement on its front page that said government officials were “shaming the medical field” with Lin’s appointment.
Despite reports that some TVGH staff planned to oust him within a few months, Lin said he hoped he would serve in this position “for a while.”
Lin’s previous post as health minister ended after four months.
At the start of the melamine scandal in September, Lin resigned as health minister to take responsibility for the department’s handling of the controversy over tainted food imports from China.
His resignation made him the Cabinet member with the shortest term of service since Liu Chao-hsiuan (劉兆玄) became the premier.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
EYE ON MAYORS: The DPP would file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of reports of abuse at a preschool in the city The Taipei City Government’s belated response under Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his predecessor, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), to alleged child sex abuse at a kindergarten resulted in more children being victimized, two Taipei City Councilors said yesterday. A Taipei preschool teacher has been charged with sexually abusing six children from 2021 to last year at a school registered to his mother. Prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges amid a wave of new accusations allegedly linking the suspect to 20 other abused children and the discovery at his residence of more than 600 sexually explicit videos featuring minors. The
FATAL ILLNESS: Untreated symptoms can rapidly worsen to complications such as high fever, seizures and loss of consciousness, and can be life-threatening, a doctor said Hospitals have been reporting dozens of people with heat-related illnesses every day over the past week, given continuous high daytime temperatures, so recognizing the early signs of heatstroke is crucial in preventing serious complications, a Taipei City Hospital emergency physician said. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a heat alert for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures in New Taipei City, Miaoli County and Pingtung County likely to exceed 38°C, and temperatures in 12 cities and counties likely to exceed 36°C for three days straight. More than a dozen people were taken to hospitals for heat-related illnesses every day from