Minister slams Lancet letter detailing Taiwan health system failings

Taipei, April 26 (CNA) Taiwan's Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) on Saturday criticized a letter published in The Lancet that described Taiwan's health-care system as being "on the brink of systemic collapse," saying it contained multiple inaccuracies and harmed the morale of frontline health workers.

Chiu said the government will formally respond to the medical journal to clarify the situation and defend Taiwan's National Health Insurance system.

The April 26 letter, written by Li Jing-xing (李景行) and Hsu Shu-bai (許漱白) from China Medical University Hospital in Taichung, said the systemic vulnerabilities of Taiwan's health-care system became particularly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The deterioration of the health-care system is attributable to structural policy myopia, rigid global budget payments, systemic inequalities, and fragmented primary care and referral systems," said Li and Hsu, who are affiliated with the hospital's internal medicine and nursing departments, respectively.

The letter also claimed that Taiwan's hospitalized COVID-19 mortality rate during the 2022 omicron surge reached 58.2 percent, compared to 12.5 percent in Japan, attributing the disparity to limited intensive care capacity and policy failures.

Chiu disputed these figures, stating that during the 2022 omicron wave, Taiwan recorded 8.85 million confirmed cases and about 14,600 deaths, resulting in a case fatality rate of 0.16 percent, which was actually lower than Japan's 0.2 percent.

He added that using incorrect statistics to attack Taiwan's health system was "deeply unfair" to medical workers.

Addressing claims about nurse shortages, Chiu said Taiwan currently has 83 nurses per 10,000 people, not 62 as cited in the letter, placing Taiwan among the better-performing countries globally, although he acknowledged there was still room for improvement.

He also noted that this year's National Health Insurance budget saw its largest increase ever, reflecting continued efforts to strengthen the system.