Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-05-22

President Tsai Ing-wen presented awards to 10 outstanding mothers at the Presidential

Office on Tuesday.

Tsai expressed gratitude for all the mothers who have contributed both to their families and to society. She said their efforts have also helped raise awareness of the many families with members who have physical disabilities.

The president especially touched on the story of one award recipient named Huang Hsu-Tsai-Yu. Tsai said Huang cared for her son after he entered a coma after a car accident and nurtured him to overcome his psychological disabilities after he woke up. Tsai also said that Huang has a daughter who is Taiwan’s first ever female captain of a class-1 combat vessel.    [FULL  STORY]

High volume discarded, unused prescription meds shows rampant misuse of National Health Insurance funds

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/05/22
By: Renée Salmonsen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Recently a pharmacist found NT$3.5 million (US$117,000) of asthma inhalers and pills in the pharmacy’s recycling box, with most of the medication unopened and expired, a startling indication of the degree to which Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) is taken for granted.

According to data from the Health and Welfare Department of the Ministry of National Health Insurance, every year the NHI spends around NT$160 billion on prescription medicine, however around 193 metric tons of this medicine is thrown away. That’s enough pills to line the perimeter of Taiwan eight times over, according to CNA.

A spokesperson for the Taiwan Pharmacist Association, Shen Tsai-ying (沈采穎), said that around six years ago he heard that over 100 unopened inhalers are recycled at pharmacies per year. The NHI pays around NT$1,000 for each one, totaling to over NT$100,000 wasted.

The NHI has tried several strategies to eliminate such wastefulness, and some have proved effective, though not all.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/22
By: Kuan-lin Liu and Yeh Su-ping 

Taipei, May 22 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) extolled the benefits of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance, an example of the universal health coverage (UHC) that the United Nations made one of its sustainable development goals in 2015, in a pre-recorded video played at the World Medical Association (WMA) General Assembly Tuesday.

The WMA meeting, which is taking place in Geneva concurrently with the 71st World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting, from which Taiwan is excluded, allowed Tsai to showcase to physicians from around the world Taiwan’s accessible and affordable health care system that covers Taiwanese nationals as well as foreign workers and legal residents.

According to Tsai, UHC “has unquestionably become the single most powerful message and most unifying keyword in global health.”    [FULL  STORY]

EXPERT OPINION: The Ministry of Justice is the deciding authority on whether to grant parole to a prisoner, which causes problems in the judicial system, Huang Kuo-chang said

Taipei Times
Date: May 23, 2018
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

The New Power Party (NPP) would seek to reform the nation’s parole system by pushing

for amendments to the Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) and Prison Act (監獄行刑法), the party told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

Whether a prisoner may be released on parole is determined by the Ministry of Justice, which has the authority to approve prisoners’ parole applications, NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said.

“Imagine a criminal who has finally been sentenced to prison after a lengthy process of investigation and trials, and then [waits for] the ministry to decide whether they need to serve only half of their sentence,” he said.

“The system is flawed, because theoretically only the judiciary has the authority, to determine the scope and level of punishment meted out to criminals — not the administrative branches,” Huang added.    [FULL  STORY]

SPEAKING OUT: Canada and New Zealand for the first time gave their backing for Taiwan’s participation, while Germany, Honduras and Japan also spoke up

Taipei Times
Date: May 22, 2018
By: Lu Yi-hsuan  /  Staff reporter, in GENEVA, Switzerland, with CNA

Fifteen of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have voiced support for its attendance at this year’s

World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer, the WHO said yesterday as it opened the first meeting of the 71st WHA in Geneva, Switzerland.

Proposals for a supplementary agenda item “inviting Taiwan to participate in the WHA as an observer” were received last month and earlier this month from Belize, Tuvalu, Nauru, eSwatini, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, El Salvador, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the Solomon Islands, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia, the WHO said in a statement.

The proposal has been submitted to the WHA’s General Committee for review, it said.

If the assembly decides to discuss the proposal, it would issue documents related to it, the statement said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-05-21

The World Health Assembly began at Geneva on Monday. At a global press conference

Taiwan’s health minister Chen Shih-chung said that Taiwan cannot be absent from the world’s health system. Chinese officials put the blame on the Democratic Progressive Party government.

Taiwan reporters were also blocked from entering the WHA venue. The foreign ministry strongly protested against this and called on the WHO to respect freedom of the press.

Chen also spoke about the need to keep Taiwan in the global health system at a welcome reception hosted by Taiwan a day earlier. On the eve of the World Health Assembly meeting, about 170 guests including representatives of Taiwan’s 19 allies were invited to a welcome reception by Taiwan. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said that it was unjust for the WHA to reject Taiwan’s participation in the global assembly. He thanked allies for their support.

“You have helped us in many ways to right the WHO’s unjust and unreasonable exclusion and for that we are grateful,” said Chen.    [FULL  STORY]

 

AIT Director Kin Moy offered few clues as to what to expect ahead of a milestone moment in US-Taiwan relations.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/05/21
By: David Green 

The director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a non-profit that serves as the de

facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan, affirmed the strength of the U.S. commitment to Taiwan this morning, but left questions as to the nature of that commitment open.

Speaking at a May 21, 2018 press conference warming up for the opening of a new office compound, AIT Director Kin Moy (梅健華) told reporters that the complex in Taipei’s Neihu District, the first purpose-built facility constructed by a foreign representative office in Taiwan, will officially open June 12 as “a tangible symbol of U.S.-Taiwan friendship.”

Moy said that people could expect to see “good friends of Taiwan coming from Washington to help us celebrate” but would not be drawn on whether the Trump administration would leverage the Taiwan Travel Act (TTA) to send high rankings U.S. officials to attend the opening ceremony.    [FULL  STORY]

Chen is suspected to have mistreated dogs

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/05/21
By: Alicia Nguyen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taipei Police Department recently detained a woman accused of

illicit fundraising and dog abuse around the Xinyi Shopping Area.

Starting in April, a 42-year-old woman surnamed Chen was spotted around Songgao shopping street and Xingya Street with several dogs, soliciting money from pedestrians to “rescue stray dogs”. However, police received reports that Chen had been abusing the dogs, which led them to check for her official documents, according to local news reports.

Under police inquiry, Chen submitted a document issued by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which was later confirmed to be a counterfeit. Despite police questioning, she insisted that her acts were “raising fundraise to rescue stray dogs.”

Chen was then accused of forgery and sent to Taipei District Prosecutors Office for further investigation.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/21
By: Tang Pei-chun, Tai Ya-chen and Ko Lin 

Geneva, May 21 (CNA) A proposal submitted by 15 member-states of the World Health Organization (WHO) to invite Taiwan as an observer to the World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected Monday.

The proposal was rejected after a two-on-two debate was held at the 71st WHA General Committee and also during the WHA plenary session.

The proposal to include the Taiwan-related issue on the supplementary agenda of the WHA meeting was brought forth by 15 formal diplomatic allies of Taiwan.

They were: Belize, Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Haiti, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, the Solomon Islands, Swaziland and Tuvalu, according to the WHO.    [FULL  STORY]