The “sweatshop” accusations that some medical reform groups have made against hospital operators are “polarizing the medical field and are not in the best interest of the public,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) said yesterday.
Su tabled an extemporaneous motion at Thursday’s meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee in Taipei, calling on groups demanding that medical institutions reform and improve the working conditions of healthcare workers to “set up a committee in a public hospital and run the hospital according to their ideals to see if it could work out.”
“Run it according to your ideals, your demands and with your suggested salaries and see whether [the hospital] would survive or close down. If the result turns out to be good, [we] would take you as a standard; if not, you should all just shut up,” Su said at the meeting.
In a statement yesterday, Su softened his tone and said his proposal would allow for a “scientific process” to see whether certain reforms could work.
“The government has been proposing measures to make improvements on various medical fronts, but few have received positive feedback... The medical profession used to be collegial, with those in the field supporting each other when facing hardship, but now there are many non-medical people who are causing a stir, and sowing mutual suspicion and conflict,” the statement said.
Quoting tycoon Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) comment that democracy does not fill one’s stomach, Su, who is also the director-general of the Taiwan Medical Association, said those criticizing hospital operators “should themselves get involved in the hands-on operation of a hospital and set an example by implementing their ideals successfully.”
Su’s controversial remarks on the medical profession were not the only comments he made that have drawn fire this week.
At a committee meeting on Monday, while quizzing Environmental Protection Administration Minister Wei Kuo-yen (魏國彥) on the topic of nuclear waste disposal, Su derailed the discussion by calling for an “education budget redistribution.”
The reason he gave for the proposal was that “national university professors and students are the ones who are causing chaos on the streets.”
Su also asked Wei “what sociology departments are studying,” a comment targeting the leaders of the recent student protests who are mainly graduates in sociology.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
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