With the theme of the changes of people’s characters and physical conditions after abusing drugs, the famous paintings of renowned painters are modified to allow viewers to compare them before and after drug abuse in order to reveal the additive process and sufferings of drug abuse. It aims to inspire viewers to learn about drug abuse to stay away from drugs and avoid falling into the trap of drug addiction. The messages of anti-drug and drug addiction prevention are communicated through the cross-over art exhibition.

Chi-Ting Tseng, the Director of the Pharmacy Department, Taipei City Hospital Songde Branch explained that for example, in this special exhibition, the famous painting of the Mona Lisa by da Vinci has been modified to present the shortcomings of Mona Lisa – her pupils have shrunk (myosis), and she has become skinny because of sickness, skin problems, etc. after heroine addiction. Her physical conditions appear to differ significantly from her past, when she was clean and healthy, to tell people about the hazards of heroin addiction of people. In another painting, Pandora of Rossetti, tells the story of Pandora that opened the box filled with drugs, which brought her physical damage. Viewers can see lumps on her face, her pupils are dilated (corectasis), and other symptoms. It tells people that curiosity is the first step to drug addiction.

From August 2 to September 1, the paintings were exhibited at Taipei Port Container Terminal Corp. During the exhibition, there were three physical check-ups for its staff and anti-drug activities sponsored by the Agency Against Corruption and Customs Administration. Guided tours were available during the exhibition. From September 7 to September 28, it was exhibited at Taipei City Hospital Songde Branch. Guided tours were available from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm on September 16. The exhibition will be held at Taipei City Hospital Yangming Branch from October 3 to October 26. Guided tours will be available from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm on October 3. People and staff of the hospitals are welcome. Let’s boost our knowledge of fighting against drug abuse and say no to drugs courageously.

References: About the Special Exhibition – National Museum of Natural Science (Website: https://web3.nmns.edu.tw/Exhibits/110/PaintingsAndDrugs/Introduction_eng.html)

World Diabetes Day lighting photographs over the years

Poster of the 2016 World Diabetes Day photography competition

Good news for babies who need fresh breast milk! Yangming Branch of Taipei City Hospital has set up a mother’s milk collecting station in October. Couriers will travel to homes to collect the milk from mothers who wish to donate their breast milk and have passed the test, and then deliver the milk to the collecting station and resend it to babies in need.

Taipei City Hospital established a breast milk tank at the end of 2004, adhering to the SOP stipulated by authorities of North America. The pediatrician of Yangming Branch, Yi-ran Hu, said that humans start to feed their offspring with mother’s milk since the ancient times, as mother’s milk consists of nutrition most needed by babies and thus is irreplaceable by other types of milk. Furthermore, breast milk can enhance babies’ immune systems, makes them less vulnerable to respiratory or digestive diseases and effectively decreases chronic diseases such as allergies. Breast milk is the best food for newborns, as well as the best gift a mother can give to their child, not to mention that mothers who feed their babies with breast milk can recover better and quicker; therefore, the mother’s milk promotion is deemed very important and urgent by the authorities concerned.

Yi-ran Hu gave requirements for donors as follows:

1. Currently breastfeeding with plenty of milk.

2. Good health conditions.

3. Not taking medications or Chinese herbs.

4. No smoking.

5. The results of blood tests in types 1 and 2 of HIV, types 1 and 2 of HTLV, HCV and TPHA were all negative.

6. No TB history.

7. Mothers who have received blood donations within 12 months, drink more than 60cc liquor, are vegetarians without supplements of vitamins, or addictive to drugs shall not donate breast milk.

Donors who have the following conditions shall stop donating milk for a certain period of time:

1. Having acute contagious diseases such as mastitis or nipple infection.

2. Someone in the family who has been exposed to German measles within the past four weeks.

3. Mothers who were vaccinated with attenuated vaccines, such as oral polio vaccine, or vaccines of measles, German measles or mumps within the past four weeks.

4. Consumed alcohol within 12 hours.

5. Herpes zoster or VZV.

2012 Taipei Conference on Healthy Cities and Safe Communities, welcome!

Domestic and international experts and scholars exchanged key principles in promoting international age-friendly cities, which included aging populations are not a crisis but an opportunity, conducting needs assessment with the elderly, cooperation between the government and the people, cooperation among different sectors and domains, introducing changes with present budgets rather than dramatically increasing expenditure, and other suggestions to lead the trend.

At a time when the aging population is increasing around the world, the Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP) responded to the WHO’s project and began to promote “age-friendly cities” in 2010 to provide the elderly compatible and accessible cities to promote active ageing, delay aging, and shorten disability. Such a foresighted and international policy has been adopted in nine counties and cities in 2011 and is expected to expand to eleven counties and cities in 2012, and eventually to all 22 counties and cities in Taiwan in 2014. The BHP aims to promote Taiwan as the country with the largest coverage of age-friendly cities in the world.

Source: Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health, R.O.C.(Taiwan)(now known as Health Promotion Administration)

(1) Public Disclosure of Information: The Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) shall provide guidance to contracted hospitals and clinics to publicize detailed information about the out-of-pocket payment items in the outpatient service area, counter areas, or on bulletin boards. This disclosure requirement shall be incorporated into the regular audit checklist by the local health bureaus when executing audits on medical institutions.

(2) Advice in Advance: With the exception of urgent or unexpected situations, medical institutions are not allowed to inquire about the willingness of a patient to use Non-NHI covered items when a surgery, medical check-up, or treatment is in progress.

(3) Issuance of Official Receipts: The receipts should clearly record the respective amounts of the NHI copayment, NHI out-of-pocket payment items, and non-medical items.

2. Items Not Included within the Scope of NHI Benefits:

(1) Items stipulated in Article 39 of the National Health Insurance Act, which are not covered by NHI, e.g., registration fees, cosmetic surgery expenses, indicator drugs, dentures, and ocular prostheses.

(2) Items included within the scope of NHI benefits, but for which the patient does not meet the eligibility requirements for the indication.

(3) The items are partially covered by the NHI as announced by the Department of Health, Executive Yuan. The patient is required to pay the difference out-of-pocket.

3. Channels for Accessing to the NHI-Related Consulting Services:

(1) Free Consulting Services Line: 0800-030-598

(2) The BNHI Global Website (www.nhi.gov.tw) -Public suggestion box (Contact us)

Following are the service area of NHI Regional Divisions:  

4. Disciplinary Actions for Hospitals/Clinics Violating the Regulations

(1) If a contracted hospital/clinic requests out-of-pocket payments from NHI beneficiaries for items already covered by NHI, the behavior shall constitute a violation of Article 58 of the National Health Insurance Act., i.e., “Creating items to charge to the beneficiaries.” The violating hospital/clinic shall reimburse the collected funds to the beneficiary and be subject to a penalty equivalent to five times of the amount of money collected.

(2) Where the medical care service is covered by NHI, the contracted medical service providers shall not request the insured to purchase drugs or medical materials, or pay for health check-ups out-of-pocket. The contracted medical service providers are also prohibited from claiming NHI payments against any services not required for curing the disease, if a request for such services is made by the insured party. Any violation of the regulation shall be subject to penalty points stipulated in the relevant NHI regulations.

5. Other

(1) If considered necessary, the insurer shall continuously provide explanations on the out-of-pocket payment items frequently required in contracted hospitals/clinics, for example, large-volume infusion, general medical materials, patient-controlled Analgesia, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, PET Scan, etc. Such information will be publicized for review by the general public and the contracted hospitals/clinics.

(2)“Are out-of-pocket payment items more effective and of better quality?” The NHI system enforces a dual-control mechanism on pharmaceutical products. First of all, a drug license from the Department of Health, Executive Yuan is required to ensure the legitimate marketing of a pharmaceutical product. Secondly, the supplier of the pharmaceutical product shall submit an application for incorporating the product into the NHI benefit system and for price evaluation. The quality of the pharmaceutical products is thereby fully guaranteed.

(3) When receiving medical care, the patient is, in fact, receiving a highly-personalized service. Apart from the diagnosis and prescription process, it is also important to consider the facilities of the hospital as well as the competency and mindset of the physicians. It is therefore recommended that before selecting an out-of-pocket payment item, the NHI beneficiary should first ask five questions: (1) Is it covered by NHI? (2) What is the out-of-pocket expense? (3) What are the benefits of choosing the out-of-pocket payment item when compared with the NHI covered item? (4) Are there any alternatives? (5) Are there any potential complications or after-effects?

Source: National Health Insurance Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare

(formerly known as Bureau of National Health Insurance, Department of Health, R.O.C.(Taiwan))

　　According to the BNHI, 94% of the parents managed to complete the household registration and NHI enrollment procedures for the newborns within the 60 day extended grace period. The remaining parents did not complete NHI enrollment until they received the relevant reminders or guidance from the BNHI.

　　BNHI Urges Parents of Newborns to Complete Household Registration and NHI Enrollment as Soon as Possible. The BNHI calls upon all parents of newborns to proactively complete the household registration and NHI enrollment procedures within 60 days in order to obtain an NHI IC card for their newborns. This way, the newborns will have access to the medical services with their own NHI IC cards. Parents who have not completed the NHI enrollment by the deadline shall be required to pay for the medical expenses of the newborns out-of-pocket and make a claim for reimbursement to the BNHI at a later date, after they have completed the enrollment procedures. This will cause many inconveniences for the related parties.

Source: Bureau of National Health Insurance, Department of Health, R.O.C.(Taiwan)

a. Adults (age 18 to 64) with Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 20 Kg/m2.
b. Children and teenagers (age 6 to 17) whom are overweight or obese according to the standards of Ministry of Health and Welfare, Executive Yuan.

Sign-up Locations:

1. 12 District Health Centers and Sports Centers of Taipei City.
2. Health Organizations (Taipei City Hospital, Public or Private Hospitals, Clinics) designated by the Department of Health, Taipei City Government.
3. Community Pharmacies.
4. The website of Department of Health, Taipei City Government.
5. Other appointed locations.

Awards:

1. Early Bird Prize:

Participants, who sign-up before the end of July, are automatically enrolled in this raffle. From April to August, 10 winners will be picked from a computer generated draw held on the 15th of each month (in case of public holiday, draw will be held on the next working day). Each winner is entitled to NT $3000 worth of prizes.

2. Individual Achievement Prize:
Individual participation is categorized into 3 divisions based on participant’s BMI before the contest. At the end of the contest, participants will need to maintain a BMI of 18.5 or above, and also participate in the Department of Health of Taipei City Government’s public weight weighing event on November 30, 2011 in order to be eligible for prizes. Upon receiving prizes, a set of photos of before and after contest is required.

a. Top 5 participants having a BMI between 20 and 24 before the contest, and loses at least 2 kg or above, will be presented with a certificate and NT $5,000 worth of prizes,  as follow each places will be presented with a certificate and NT $1000 less of prizes  respectively.
b. Top 15 participants having a BMI between 24 and 27 before the contest, and loses at least 5 kg or above, will be presented with a certificate and NT $15,000 worth of prizes,  as follow each places will be presented with a certificate and NT $1000 less of prizes respectively.
c. Top 20 participants having a BMI equal to or greater than 27 before the contest, and loses at least 10 kg or above, will be presented with a certificate and NT $20,000 worth of prizes, as follow each places will be presented with a certificate and NT $1000 less of prizes respectively.

3. Mass Participants Prize:
Group participation is categorized into 8 divisions, and there will be 5 winners from each division. Winners are determined by the number of group members it has, the first place will be presented with a certificate and NT $10,000 worth of prizes, as follow each places will be presented with a certificate and NT $1,000 less of prizes respectively. Categorized divisions:

a. School (All levels)
b. Registered Civil Organizations
c. Unregistered Civil Organizations
d. Corporations (more than or equal to 300 employees)
e. Small-Medium Enterprises (less than 300 employees)
f. Hospitals
g. Clinics
h. Others (does not belong to any of the above 7 divisions)

The Department of Health, Taipei City Government has organized the 2010 Taipei Healthy City and Asian Male Health Symposium as part of the 10th Asian Congress of Urology of the UAA, which will be held at Taipei International Convention Center on 27th of August, 2010.

This symposium includes topics such as Medical Ethics, Cancer Prevention, Urological Management of Men's Health and Infectious Diseases Issues, the whole symposium will be in English. Participation is free for all national and foreign medical and public health related academics and medical personnel.

Those who wish to attend please visit the Department of Health's symposium service system website at http:/meeting.health.gov.tw(Chinese) or the “10th Asian Congress of Urology of the UAA” website at http://www.2010acu.org now to sign up, before the deadline on 10th of August 2010, limited numbers.

Email: 2010acu@knaintl.com.tw

Tel: (02)2701-8768

*Effective date：Until 2010 December 31st, limited numbers.

*Examination items and other information：

1. Examination items:

(1) For females, a subsidy of NT$ 1,595 is given to each case（registration and diagnostic fees excluded）, examination items include: Urine test, tests for rubella and chicken pox antibodies, routine blood tests, syphilis screening, HIV screening, thyroid-stimulating hormone, systemic lupus erythematosus.

(2) For males, a subsidy of NT$ 655 is given to each case (registration and diagnostic fees excluded), examination items include: Urine test, routine blood tests, syphilis screening, HIV screening, semen analysis (a 3-day abstinence from sex is recommended).

2. Fasting is not required for the “Post-marital Pre-pregnancy Fertility Health Examination”. Following the completion of the examination, notification will be given by hospital staff if revisits, referral to more extensive examinations, or other services that require further fees are needed.

3. The following is the required documents and applicable fees for each subsidized category :

* Branches of Taipei City Hospital that provide the services:

Father's Day Healthy Waist Activities
Date: 15th August, 2009
For more information please contact:
Miss Lee : 02-87860996 or Citizen's Hotline: 1999 ext. 1807
(For callers outside of Taipei City, please dial 02-2720-8889)