Taipei Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) was admitted to an intensive care unit after surgery for a hemorrhagic stroke, Taipei City Hospital said yesterday.
Tsai arrived at an emergency room in an ambulance at 7:49pm on Monday, said Lin Chih-lin (林志陵), deputy superintendent of the hospital’s Renai branch, adding that Tsai was unconscious and had high blood pressure when he arrived.
“We performed an emergency computed tomography scan on his brain and other examinations, which found massive bleeding on the right side of the brain and midline shift,” Lin said.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei City Government
An emergency craniotomy was performed to remove blood clots, an external ventricular drain was inserted to monitor intracranial pressure, after which Tsai was admitted to an intensive care unit for further treatment and observation, Lin said.
The hospital has established a medical team to take care of Tsai, whose vital signs were stable yesterday, he said, adding that as Tsai continues to receive sedative treatment, the upcoming week is a critical observation period.
The team would continue to monitor the deputy mayor’s condition, he said.
Lin Wen-hsiung (林文雄), a neurosurgeon at the hospital, said that the surgery took about one-and-a-half hours and Tsai was in a deep coma.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Monday said that he was at a dinner event with Tsai and Taichung city councilors at a hotel in Taipei when Tsai suddenly fell at about 7:20pm.
He gave instructions to call an ambulance, assessing that Tsai had likely had a stroke, said Ko, who is a doctor.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) — who is expected to run for mayor this year with Ko nearing the end of his second term — was asked by reporters yesterday whether Tsai’s condition would affect the city’s administration.
She said that there are capable people to maintain city government operations, so there is no immediate concern regarding administrative matters.
Earlier on Facebook she wrote that Tsai spends long hours in his role for the city and expressed hope that they would be able to work together again soon.
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