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.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS