Health Ministry seeks to ease 'unprecedented' emergency unit pressure

Taipei, Feb. 24 (CNA) The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) on Monday announced short-term and long-term measures to address an "unprecedented" pressure on emergency units, following a request by Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰).

At a press conference in Taipei, Health Minister Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) said the ministry has instructed hospitals nationwide to improve the allocation of inpatient beds in medical centers, strengthen coordination among regional hospitals, and raise public awareness of the tiered medical system.

In terms of long-term measures, the ministry plans to continue incentivizing hospitals to allocate more resources to critical care and adjust the National Health Insurance payment system to reduce hospital overcrowding, Chiu added.

The announcement came two days after the Taiwan Society of Emergency Medicine warned on Facebook that the "unprecedented" situation could lead to widespread resignations of health workers if it continues.

As of 2:30 p.m. Monday, 10 large hospitals in Taiwan had between 60 and 123 patients waiting to be hospitalized, the ministry said.

Chiu attributed the recent surge in emergency unit demand to influenza-like illnesses, norovirus and cold weather. He noted that the patient influx has far exceeded what medical staff can handle, despite hospitals' efforts to retain personnel.

During the Lunar New Year holiday, the number of patients diagnosed with diarrhea and other severe complications was several times higher than during the same period over the past nine years, Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said in a statement issued Monday.

However, Liu Yueh-ping (劉越萍), a Health Ministry official, suggested that measures to address the crisis were already taking effect.

She said the number of hospitals with more than 100 patients waiting for admission had dropped from five on Feb. 10 to just one, as of Monday.

Liu said an autonomous reporting system for nursing staff changes and hospital bed adjustments was established this year in coordination with local health departments to help hospitals respond more efficiently.

Additionally, to improve the allocation of beds, the National Health Insurance Administration will reimburse hospitals for the flexible conversion of "special beds" to "general beds" from Feb. 13 to March 15, she added.