A shortage of intravenous (IV) fluid looks set to continue for at least several months, after officials on Wednesday announced that the nation’s largest producer is unlikely to resume production before next year.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found Y F Chemical Corp, which makes about 70 percent of the nation’s IV fluid, to be in violation of 63 minor, moderate or severe regulations during inspections earlier this year and ordered the firm to halt production on May 10.
Asked at a news conference on Wednesday if the company would not be permitted to resume production before the end of this year, FDA Director-General Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) replied: “It seems so.”
Photo: Taipei Times
“These deficiencies must all be corrected before we allow them to resume production,” Wu said, adding that the agency would conduct another inspection after the implementation of the corrections, including a review of the company’s software, hardware, personnel training and operations.
The shutdown of Y F Chemical has already begun to place a severe strain on IV fluid supplies.
The Federation of Taiwan Pharmacists Associations on May 18 warned that major hospitals could be forced to postpone surgeries and stop admitting patients if more is not done to address the issue.
The company had been producing large-bag saline for injection at a rate equivalent to 1.96 million bags per month, based on a volume of 500cc per bag, the FDA said.
It is estimated that stocks of that type of IV fluid would run out in the middle of this month, resulting in a shortage of 1.1 million bags this month and 1.5 million bags next month, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has previously said.
To address the domestic shortage of IV fluid, the FDA on May 29 initiated an emergency scheme to import saline from overseas.
The first shipment of 100,000 bags of saline from Malaysia was to arrive at the Port of Taipei on Wednesday evening, while a second shipment of 216,000 bags from Vietnam is expected to arrive tomorrow, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) said.
As shipments of saline would arrive continuously from this week, announcements would be made whenever a shipment is unloaded, Lin said.
Six local companies are also working to increase the domestic production of saline, Wu said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS