Eight major medical organizations yesterday called on the government to re-evaluate the National Health Insurance (NHI) point value system to prevent talent loss in response to attempts by China’s Fujian Province to poach Taiwanese nurses.
At the end of last month, Fujian Province announced that it would offer 240 positions annually over the next five years to attract Taiwanese nursing staff through incentives based on educational and professional experience.
Boosting the NHI point values would increase salaries, improve the sector’s competitiveness and provide the public with better-quality healthcare, the groups said in a statement.
Photo: Taipei Times
China is offering high salaries and other benefits to Taiwanese nurses, the statement said, adding that the outflow of nursing staff from Taiwan would become more severe.
Since last year, the healthcare sector has communicated its concerns to the government, urging it to increase healthcare investments and to improve the resilience of medical institution management, it said.
It has also called for reform of the NHI point values from an “expenditure cap” system to an “expenditure target” system, with the goal of ensuring a point value of NT$0.95 in the short term and NT$1.1 in the long term.
In the event that point values fall short, government funds could cover the gap and help the sector meet funding needs, the groups said, adding that if such a change occurred, salary increases would have to be prioritized to address the nursing shortage.
High demand for urgent, critical and rare disease treatment in Taipei has driven down NHI point values, adding to the industry’s list of issues, which include delays in approving new medications, low wages and reluctance of medical students to specialize in high-risk or emergency medicine, the statement said.
Hospitals are under public pressure to demonstrate that they are not hoarding funds, it said.
A survey of its members by the Taiwan Nongovernmental Hospitals and Clinics Association showed that 100 percent of hospitals increased salaries last year or this year, with 80 percent of private hospitals providing raises larger than the 4 percent salary increase public servants received, the groups said.
President William Lai (賴清德) should keep his promise to increase NHI point values and guarantee minimum values, with the goal of moving toward the NT0.95 target by the third quarter of next year, they said.
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