The death of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) has raised doubts about the preparedness and management of the military’s medical service for both daily health care and emergencies.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉), who is also director-general of the Taiwan Medical Association, told a symposium in Taipei on reform in the military medical system that Hung’s case showed the Ministry of National Defense’s Medical Affairs Bureau was guilty of mismanagement.
Guards were not adequately trained for medical issues, there was a lack of emergency equipment in the detention center and ambulances on call did not use their sirens, he said. Information from former medical officials showed there were more problems with the system, Su said.
Photo: CNA
“Bureau Director-General Chang Deh-ming (張德明) said that the doctor-patient ratio in the military, at 1:504, is similar to the national ratio of 1:594 and so could be considered reasonable,” he said. “However, medical officers, military nurses and medical corpsmen are often sent on errands unrelated to their profession. Servicemen released for medical reasons asked to change to civilian clothes before seeking medical treatment to avoid attention and mass infections are not reported for fear of punishment.”
Association secretary-general Tsai Ming-chung (蔡明忠) said the emergency procedures followed by the medical officer, surnamed Lu (呂), who attended Hung — which require a patient to be referred to hospital immediately if the site is poorly equipped — were appropriate.
Chiang Shih-chung (蔣世中), the association’s vice secretary-general, agreed and said the military was being intentionally misleading. Whether oxygen was administered to Hung in the ambulance or the ambulance’s siren was used were clues in resolving Hung’s case, Chiang said.
“The cause of Hung’s death has never been made clear. Was heat stroke and, if so, what caused the heat stroke,” Chiang said.
“We have to make sure that military physicians, who not permitted to join unions and thereby not protected, are guaranteed just and fair treatment,” he added.
Su also voiced concern about the impact the move toward all all-volunteer military will have on the number of doctors in the military.
He said that of the 388 medical officers currently serving in the military (not including those in military hospitals), 236 were serving their mandatory military service.
“As a system of voluntary military service is to be implemented in 2015, a shortage of medical personnel is expected. The military needs to come up with countermeasures to solve this problem,” Su said.
This story has been amended since it was first published.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS