The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) yesterday held a news conference to showcase its training program for surgeons’ medical resilience enhancement, which aims to improve the nation’s emergency medical treatment capability and improve survival rates during major disasters.
The program is part of the Executive Yuan’s four-year national resilience and healthcare preparedness program approved last year.
The ministry has commissioned the Taiwan Surgical Association, Taipei Medical University and Formosa Association for the Surgery of Trauma to co-organize and implement the program.
Photo: CNA
The news conference was held at Far Eastern Memorial Hospital in New Taipei City yesterday to promote the program and showcase the plans, which include incorporating virtual reality (VR) technology into training.
The program aims to train surgeons and improve their skills to treat trauma in emergency conditions, including traffic accidents, explosions, earthquakes and other major disasters, in the hope of increasing survival rates, Taiwan Surgical Association president Tsai Chien-sung (蔡建松) said.
The surgical departments have been making progress toward achieving more precise and minimally invasive methods for performing surgeries, but these skills might not be as applicable in the event of major disasters, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital superintendent Chiu Kuan-ming (邱冠明) said.
Through the training program, younger surgeons, who might be unfamiliar with treating major injuries, can reignite their passion, deepen their knowledge and develop the skills to handle the worst scenarios, he said.
Tsai said that aside from gathering more than 100 experts and healthcare professionals with deep clinical experience to develop in-person courses and videos, the program would also incorporate VR technology.
The ministry also plans to train more than 10,000 healthcare practitioners, he said.
The Taiwan Surgical Association said VR technology can also allow participants to practice treating serious injuries, including emergent airway management, traumatic pneumothorax (a collapsed lung) treatment and wound packing and tourniquet applications, in simulated high-pressure scenarios.
Quick response and increasing survival rates are two important factors in treating injuries in major disasters, and sometimes the open wounds might be very large, so aside from precision and smart surgery skills, other surgical methods acquired in the training program would also be needed, MOHW Department of Medical Affairs Director-General Liu Yueh-ping (劉越萍) said.
With in-person courses and VR-simulated training, the misnitry hopes to establish the principles for emergency trauma and casualty treatment in disasters, and help improve healthcare professionals’ surgical skills to respond to disaster, Taiwan Surgical Association’s trauma committee head Lin Heng-fu (林恆甫) said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
RSS