Friendly care environments should be provided to people with rare diseases as well as children and juveniles in children's homes, Premier Chang San-cheng stated today while visiting the Center for Rare Neurodegenerative Disease at Taichung Hospital.
The center, the first of its kind in Taiwan, provides its patients professional care to help them improve or restore their normal lives. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW).
The general public lacks knowledge about rare diseases, and this increases the hardship of rare-disease sufferers and their families and makes them more likely to become socially disadvantaged, Chang remarked.
The MOHW stated that the ROC is the fifth country in the world to have enacted legislation on rare diseases. Moreover, the MOHW has formulated a program on Medical Subsidies for Patients with Rare Diseases. National Health Insurance subsidies have been extended to drugs for 210 rare diseases, and the Logistics Center of Medical Food and Emergency Orphan Drug for Rare Diseases has maintained supplies of nutrients and orphan drugs specially formulated for treatment of rare diseases. Furthermore, to provide more comprehensive care for rare-disease patients, the ministry has set up a protective network with a Genetic Counseling Center in each of four regions: northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan.
The premier was also concerned about medical resources and turnover of hospital beds in light of the recent influenza epidemic, and Taichung Hospital briefed him on its preparations to respond to the epidemic and treat flu patients. Chang pointed out that each day the MOHW monitors medical centers' triage mechanisms in real time and assigns hospital beds and other medical resources as quickly as possible. Even so, medical centers still become congested because so many people go there for treatment. The premier expressed hope that citizens will help alleviate the problem by receiving care in regional or local hospitals.
Later Chang visited the MOHW's Central Region Children's Home and donated funds to enrich their meal. He noted that the home plays a very important role in the social care system by providing settlement, assistance and services to children and juveniles who do not have the opportunity to grow up in a healthy family. The premier expressed his gratitude to the home, the MOHW and the Taichung City Government for their services.