2024 AmCham DEIA Celebration Spring Happy Hour – Celebrating Life & Diversity
2024 AmCham DEIA Celebration Spring Happy Hour – Celebrating Life & Diversity
AmCham Happy Hour
Suggestion: Develop and begin implementation of an effective plan to legalize the profession of chiropractic.
Following Taiwan’s adoption of a Patent Linkage system to help protect pharmaceuticals against infringement, the issue of legalizing the status of chiropractic doctors in Taiwan now has the dubious distinction of being the longest-standing unresolved issue in the Taiwan White Paper, stretching back well over a decade.
During that time, some fruitful discussions have been held with the relevant government agencies, chiefly the National Development Council and Ministry of Health and Welfare. But it was never possible to overcome the resistance from the medical community in order to devise a practical solution. The foreign-trained, foreign-licensed chiropractic doctors practicing in Taiwan have had to continue to exist in a state of limbo, staying so low-profile that they may not even operate websites.
The nebulous status is more than a mere inconvenience. It leaves the chiropractic doctors vulnerable to harassment by ill-wishers who complain to local health authorities that chiropractors are practicing medicine without a license. Although such charges are likely to be dismissed upon review, chiropractors are left in state of constant uncertainty and insecurity.
Initially there seemed to be a possibility that 2020 could bring progress toward a significant breakthrough. Then came the eruption of the severe COVID-19 pandemic, which understandably means that government officials involved with healthcare must give all their attention to the current crisis, leaving the chiropractic issue on the back-back burner for now.
As soon as public health conditions permit, however, the chiropractic doctor members of AmCham Taipei hope and expect that this long-overdue issue can be raised again and finally brought to a conclusion. The arguments in favor of granting a legal status to chiropractic in Taiwan have been set out in detail in past White Papers. In essence, the situation comes down to the following:
建議:發展並開始執行一個能合法化脊骨神經醫學專業的有效計畫
在台灣採用專利連結制度以協助保護藥品免遭侵權後,台灣的脊骨神經醫師合法化已史無前例地成為在「台灣白皮書」中最久但卻未能解決的問題,此議題已經延宕超過十多年。
在這段期間,雖與國家發展委員會和衛生福利部等政府相關單位進行了一些有成效的討論,但卻一直無法克服醫學界的反對來籌劃一個可行的解決方案,以至於受國外教育訓練及擁有國外脊骨神經醫師執照的醫師們必須委屈於法律不明的灰色地帶,不單是保持低調,甚至在網站經營上也有困難。模糊不清的職業位階不僅帶來不便,更讓脊骨神經醫師容易遭反對人士向地方衛生機關投訴「無照行醫」造成騷擾,雖然這些指控大多在經過審核後撤銷,但卻造成脊骨神經醫師在執業上長期處於不確定及不安全的狀態。
2020年開年看似有希望突破現有窘境,然而全球新冠病毒疫情大爆發,與健康照護相關之政府官員必須全心投入當前危機,以致於脊骨神經醫學議題只能再度遭擱置。
一旦公共衛生條件允許,台北市美國商會的脊骨神經醫師會員們真心期望這項延宕許久的議題可以再次被重視,並且最終能得到結論。在過去的白皮書中,贊成讓脊骨神經醫學在台灣享有合法位階的論述一直都有詳細介紹,大體上可歸結出以下幾點: