New agency to focus on children’s health: president

• By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

A dedicated, child-centered agency supporting children’s physical and mental health development would be established under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during his opening remarks at the Healthy Taiwan Sustainability Forum at National Taiwan University Hospital.

Lai said Cardiac Children’s Foundation Taiwan honorary chairperson and NTU emeritus professor of pediatrics Lue Hung-chi (呂鴻基) visited him when he was premier and vice president, advocating for years for better children’s healthcare policies.

Lai said now that he is president, he wants to tell Lue and everyone that an agency specializing on the topic is to be established.

Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times

“The ministry will establish a children and family administration in the future, a specialized governmental agency for the care of children,” he said.

As the first physician to become president, Lai said he established the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee to increase the healthy life expectancy of Taiwanese, address the sustainability issues of the National Health Insurance (NHI) and create a better healthcare environment.

To improve the healthcare environment, the government would continue to push institutional reforms to improve holistic healthcare services that serve all, from children to elderly people and those with critical or chronic illnesses, he said.

In response to a shortage in pediatricians over the past few years, the government implemented a children’s healthcare improvement program, which Taiwan Pediatric Association chairman Ni Yen-hsuan (倪衍玄) said has been effective, Lai said, adding that Ni expressed hope that the program would continue.

“From this year to 2028, we will continue with the second phase of the program,” he said. “We plan to allocate NT$13.56 billion [US$435.31 million] to the program over four years, to improve the children’s healthcare capacity and help retain healthcare workers in the profession.”

A budget of NT$2.7 billion has been allocated this year for the establishment of a three-tiered triage system for pediatric healthcare, with eight hospitals responsible for the care of children with critical, severe and rare conditions, Lai said.

Subsidies were also provided to 27 key hospitals so that they could integrate medical resources needed for perinatal care and critical care, and provide more comprehensive prenatal or intensive care, he said.

The ministry launched a “Project of Holistic Physicians for Young Children,” and as of September, there were more than 2,500 physicians at about 1,200 healthcare facilities providing care for more than 268,000 children younger than 3 years old, or a coverage rate of about 65 percent, Lai said.

The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) also allocated NT$24.9 billion of its budget for pediatric care for children from birth until they are 6 years old, he said.

The NHIA from last year to this year allocated NT$857 million to increase NHI payments for pediatric medical care services, and it is planning to further increase NHI payments for pediatric ward and intensive care unit consultation fees, as well as provide bonuses to retain pediatricians, he added.

Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) on the sidelines of the forum said that as Taiwan faces low birthrate and childcare issues, the ministry hopes to consolidate scattered childcare services and welfare resources under one specialized agency for management.

In accordance with Lai’s instructions, the new agency would be handling children’s healthcare promotion, preventive care, welfare and protection, and early intervention and development, Shih said, adding that the draft organization law would be sent to the Executive Yuan for review by the end of the year.

Additional reporting by CNA