Taiwan health care system ranked first by online business magazine

Taipei, Aug. 8 (CNA) Taiwan's health care system has been ranked best in the world out of 89 countries surveyed, according to the 2019 Health Care Index compiled by CEOWORLD, an online business magazine and news site.

The Index measures the overall quality of health care systems, including health care infrastructure, competencies of health care professionals, cost and availability of quality medicine, the magazine said.

It also takes into consideration other factors including environmental factors, access to clean water, sanitation, government willingness to impose penalties on risks such as tobacco use and obesity, according to CEOWORLD.

Of the 89 countries surveyed, Taiwan's health care system scored 78.72 out of 100, the index shows. However, the CEOWORLD index provided no information on how the individual category calculations were made.

Three additional Asian nations, South Korea (2nd), Japan (3rd) and Thailand (6th) were among the top 10 in 2019.

Lee Po-chang (李伯璋), director-general of Taiwan's National Health Insurance Administration said Thursday that Taiwan outranked South Korea because only 50 percent of South Korean doctors are part of its health care system, while 93 percent of doctors in Taiwan have joined, providing high quality medical services all year round.

The relationship between the authorities and doctors in South Korea is strained, Lee said, adding that medical practitioners in the country often go on strike.

Lee made the remark on the sideline of the APEC Conference on medical information sharing to enhance medical and disease management. The two-day conference, taking place in Taipei, is attended by 40 representatives from 13 countries.