Reported by Wang Chia-Jun from Taipei

Duh Tyzz-Jiun, the Deputy Premier, invited officials from the MOHW and the CDC, experts in public health and health specialists to discuss the measures for containing the recent flu outbreak in Taiwan.  Apart from giving vaccines as a preventive measure, doctors can give antivirus drugs, such as Tamiflu and Relenza, to patients as a treatment.  The MOHW now authorizes doctors to decide, based on their professional judgement, whether public-funded antivirus drugs should be prescribed to patients or not.  The condition of 48-hour constant fever as a prerequisite for the use of public-funded antivirus drugs is temperately scrapped.  The conditions and the scope of using public-funded antivirus drugs will be reviewed after this outbreak.

The Deputy Minister urged the MOHW to strengthen health education and to remind the public of avoiding crowded venues, washing hands frequently, wearing facial masks, etc. The public should be made aware of the early flu symptoms so that they are less likely to fall into severe cases.  The MOHW will assess the possibility of introducing new vaccines and will establish systems to monitor pupils’ absence from schools and to monitor doctors’ reports and serum test reports.

The Executive Yuan is considering allocating the government’ second reserve to an expanded flu vaccination program.  The Executive Yuan also instructed the MOHW to draft proposals to increase next year’s budget for disease prevention and to incorporate disease prevention expenses into NHI budget.

【20016-03-11/ Apple Daily】