Taipei Veterans General Hospital ranked 218th in world

Taipei, Feb. 29 (CNA) Only one Taiwanese hospital, Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH), featured on the list of the world's 250 best hospitals in 2024 recently released by Newsweek, with a ranking of 218th.

That placed TVGH ahead of National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) which was the only hospital from Taiwan to appear in the top 250 last year, at No. 249.

The World's Best Hospitals rankings were first published by Newsweek and Statista in March 2019. This year, the list includes data on 2,400 hospitals across 30 countries, including 35 in Taiwan.

Each hospital's score is based on an online survey of more than 85,000 medical experts and public data from post-hospitalization patient surveys on their general satisfaction, according to Newsweek.

TVGH Superintendent Chen Wei-ming (陳威明) said he believes that Taiwan's medical centers are on a par with their counterparts in other countries.

In May last year, TVGH opened Taiwan's first heavy ion therapy center for cancer treatment and so far nearly 170 patients are undergoing or have undergone ion therapy, according to Chen.

After the center was inaugurated, many countries noticed the improvement in medical care standards in Taiwan. As such, many international hospitals have signed cooperation agreements with TVGH Chen said, adding that the hospital recently signed a letter of intent for cooperation with the Mayo Clinic in Florida, the United States.

In addition to the world's top 250 hospitals, the survey also provides rankings for hospitals in each country and region. The top five in Taiwan are TVGH, NTUH, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital and Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.

The top 10 is rounded out by Taichung-based China Medical University Hospital, Mackay Memorial Hospital, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital, and Taoyuan Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.