Medical professionals protest DOH's plan to amend regulations

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on March 31, 2006. It reports that the Department of Health is currently considering an amendment to regulations that may lower minimum requirements for staff members at local hospitals and medical centers. However, such an amendment has drawn strong criticism from many medical professionals. They argue that hospitals should employ more staff, rather than reducing them, in order to provide better services to their patients.

According to local medical professionals, about 20,000 more patients will survive every year if they are given better care by hospital staff. For example, U.S. statistics show that the fatality rates of patients who have been in hospital for more than one month may rise by 7 percent, if the nurse taking care of them is required to care for an additional patient.

According to local medical professionals, the ideal number of patients under the care of one nurse is 4. However, in Taiwan, a nurse is often required to take care of 7 to 12 patients during normal hours, or 12 to 30 patients during a night shift. Partly because of this shortage of medical manpower, the quality of medicine in Taiwan is not high enough.

These local medical professionals also argue that according to existing regulations, a medical center is required to hire a pharmacist for every 40 beds. On average, each pharmacist is required to process a prescription and prepare medication for a patient in six minutes. How can a pharmacist provide quality work if he or she is required to process more prescription each day?

Officials from the Department of Health deny that the amendment has been finalized. The government is in fact actively trying to raise standards for hospital management by requiring hospitals to hire more staff and improve their services. The Department of Health will continue to consult with hospital administrators before working out a final draft acceptable to all parties concerned.