The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Saturday announced that it would cancel its NT$600 million (US$20 million) “baby box” program proposal, which aimed to address the nation’s low fertility rate and the trend toward having fewer children.
The ministry in October proposed the program, which is modeled after a Finnish policy.
The so-called baby boxes would include childcare information and necessities for newborns, and each box would cost about NT$952 to produce.
The program was originally included as part of the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program.
The proposal faced a public backlash and on Oct. 17 a person claiming to be the mother of a two-year-old began a petition on the National Development Council’s online public policy participation platform requesting that the proposed budget be used instead to subsidize childcare and education for children aged two to five.
In a number of meetings and discussions with academics, experts and the public, all parties gave negative feedback and said that spending this money would not be effective, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said, adding that the Executive Yuan asked that the money be spent where it is most needed.
The Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan also asked the ministry to reassess its proposal, Chen said, adding that fragmentary plans like the baby box program create excitement, but are not meaningful.
The Executive Yuan has a comprehensive plan for nurturing and recruiting talent, and the plan is also related to the trend of having fewer children, Chen said, adding that the resources would be integrated with those for the plan.
The baby box program was a mistaken decision that was forcibly added to the development program, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) said, adding that the ministry was correct to cancel it.
Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology secretary-general Huang Min-chao (黃閔照) said that the decision was correct, as for regular families, the boxes would not be an incentive.
Women often worry that their jobs and positions would be affected after childbirth, Huang said, citing observations.
If the government could push for friendly workplace environments and allay women’s fear that their jobs will be affected if they have children, that would definitely raise the fertility rate, Huang added.
As the mission to tackle the falling fertility rate has already been transferred to the Executive Yuan and the National Development Council, the ministry would not develop new policies for the time being, Chen said.
According to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, the number of newborns in the year as of the end of last month was 177,728 and if the current trend continues, the total number of newborns this year could be less than 200,000.
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,
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
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
RSS