According to the National Health Insurance Administration’s (NHIA) latest data, the number of medical consultations at Taiwan’s outpatient institutions and emergency rooms between January and March was estimated at around 26.98 million, 4.45 million or 14 percent lower compared to the same period a year ago. During the same period, the number of inpatient cases fell 14 percent from last year’s 260,000 to 220,000.

A closer look at the data shows that the bulk of the decline was concentrated in visits to Western medicine clinics, where the number of cases fell 17 percent from last year’s 16.76 million to 13.9 million, followed by hospitals, where the number of visits fell 15 percent annually from 8.92 million to 7.53 million.

NHIA Deputy Director General Tsai Shu-ling in an interview said that since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many members of the public have become wary of possible contagion risks at large hospitals where COVID-19 cases are likely to be treated and have begun avoiding visits and moving back non-critical surgeries. In addition, prompted by the pandemic, most people have begun wearing face masks and washing their hands more frequently, which led to a significant decline in the number of influenza and upper respiratory tract infections, resulting in much lower numbers of medical consultations.

Deputy Director General Tsai said that in terms of the volume of medical consultations, the top five most affected departments were internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, otolaryngology and rehabilitation, which is indicative of a decline in cases of non-critical medical conditions. It is worth mentioning that during the same period, the number of visits to psychiatry and dermatology departments have risen.

Pediatric physician Lee Ying-ran said that during the pandemic, departments that specialize in respiratory symptoms and infectious diseases such as pediatrics and otolaryngology were impacted immensely, with many seeing revenue decline by at least 50 percent. Deputy Director General Tsai said that to prevent a wave of closures during these trying times, the NHIA has decided to provide the same amount of reimbursements as last year to help affected medical institutions. The tallying of medical institutions’ expenditure, which is typically conducted on a quarterly basis, will be shifted to an annual basis to help hospitals face challenges of the pandemic.

[2020-04-23 / Central News Agency]