The Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday announced that it would be relaxing subsidy payout policies for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) medication, to go into effect as soon as May.
The policy loosening would result in annual National Health Insurance (NHI) payouts for SMA medication reaching NT$3.8 billion (US$120.5 million), the ministry said.
The policy change would honor the memory of the late human rights lawyer Chen Chun-han (陳俊翰), who had SMA, it said.
Photo: CNA
Chen had campaigned to have SMA medications included under NHI payouts.
Pharmaceutical companies had lobbied for the NHI program to approve payouts for conditions recognized by the Food and Drug Administration, National Health Insurance Administration Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said.
The companies protested against standing regulations and said there was no direct correlation between patients’ Revised Upper Limb Module (RULM) scale scores and their treatment.
Standing regulations state that patients should have a score equal to or greater than 15 on the RULM scale before receiving treatment.
The nation has 400 registered SMA patients, 150 of whom were eligible for treatment prior to relaxing the regulations, Shih said, adding that all patients would be eligible for treatment after the changes.
Each SMA patient is expected to spend NT$7 million on medical fees per year, he said.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS