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 in Taiwan.
More than a decade has passed since the above suggestion first appeared in an AmCham White Paper, making the uncertain legal status in Taiwan of chiropractic doctors the oldest unresolved White Paper issue.
The issue should not be so difficult to solve. The World Health Organization has long acknowledged chiropractic as a valuable form of alternative medicine, and more than 100 countries have found ways to incorporate chiropractic into their healthcare systems. Taiwan is one of only a handful of major jurisdictions where that objective has so far been impossible to achieve.
The core obstacle has been the opposition of the medical establishment, which in Taiwan continues to be quite politically influential. Nevertheless, through the active involvement of the National Development Council and some productive discussions with the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), progress appeared to be occurring a few years ago toward working out a path forward for recognition of chiropractic. Then progress was stalled last year due to the arrival of COVID-19. Understandably, the Ministry needed to put all other issues aside to concentrate on fighting the pandemic. This year that priority continues. Although the Taiwan government’s handling of the coronavirus has been among the most effective in the world, the vaccination program has just begun and the battle continues.
As soon as feasible, however, attention should again be directed to the incongruous status of chiropractic in this society. Until a reasonable solution can be devised, the foreign-trained, foreign-licensed chiropractic doctors practicing in Taiwan have had to exist in a state of limbo, remaining so low-profile that they may not even operate websites. It is an assault on the dignity of professionals who have typically gone through the equivalent of five years of post-graduate medical education and training in Taiwan.
Further, the nebulous status also leaves 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 a state of constant insecurity.
Even more importantly, the current situation has limited the availability of chiropractic care in Taiwan, depriving the local public of access to a valuable form of healthcare appreciated by countless patients the world over. Chiropractic offers relief to patients suffering from low-back pain, neck pain, headaches, and other neuromusculoskeletal ailments. The U.S. alone has more than 70,000 licensed chiropractors.
Chiropractic treatment involves neither surgery nor medication, and so represents a highly cost-effective approach that could relieve some of the financial burden on Taiwan’s National Health Insurance program as Taiwan becomes a super-aged society.
It is long past time for Taiwan to catch up with most of the rest of the world in adding chiropractic to the fully recognized healthcare options available to the public. Once public health conditions permit, the chiropractic-doctor members of AmCham Taiwan urge the authorities to finally come up with a practical plan to provide legal recognition to their profession.
建議:在台灣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
十多年過去了,台灣脊骨神經醫師的合法化建議案,依舊躺在美國商會白皮書裡,成了最久且懸而未決的案子。
這議題應該不難解決,不只世界衛生組織早已承認脊骨神經醫學在替代醫學上的價值,且有超過 100 個國家也以不同的方式將脊骨神經醫學納入他們的醫療保健系統中,迄今為止,台灣仍是少數尚未實現此目標的司法管轄區之一。
主要阻力還是來自既有醫療團體的反對,這些團體在台灣仍具有相當大的政治影響力。儘管如此,在過去幾年中,透過國家發展委員會的主動參與以及和衛生福利部有效的討論,似乎在認可脊骨神經醫學的發展道路上已取得進展。然而,由於COVID-19 疫情的影響而使得進展停滯,委員會可以理解當下衛福部需暫時擱置其他問題,以集中精力應對疫情。今年,此一優先順序仍持續存在。台灣政府對 COVID-19 疫情的控制,目前看來還是領先各國,但疫苗接種計畫才剛剛開始,與疫情的戰鬥將持續一段時間。
然而,在情況允許下,我們建議政府的注意力應再次回到脊骨神經醫學在社會中不協調的地位,直到規畫出有一個合理的解決方式。在國外受過訓練、取得國外執照,並在台灣執業的脊骨神經醫師們被迫處在一個法律灰色地帶,並且得盡量保持低調,甚至於無法經營網站,這對於已受過等同台灣五年學士後醫學專業教育訓練的專業人員是一大羞辱。
再者,模糊不清的身分,讓脊骨神經醫師受騷擾的案件層出不窮,像是想找麻煩的有心人士,向當地醫療單位控訴脊骨神經醫師無照行醫,儘管這些控訴通常不予受理,還是讓脊骨神經醫師處於持續不安的狀態。
更重要的是,此現況限制了台灣脊骨神經醫學的普及,剝奪了本地民眾尋求特殊保健醫療形式的權益。這種具有醫療實證效果的脊骨神經醫學服務已受到世界無數民眾的支持。脊骨神經醫學可有效地緩解下背痛、頸部疼痛、頭痛和其他神經肌肉骨骼疾患,光是美國境內合法持有脊醫師執業資格的人數,就有超過七萬多位。
脊骨神經醫學既不涉及手術行為,也不包含藥物治療,因此可被視為一種極具成本效益的醫療新選擇,可以隨著台灣進入超高齡社會而減輕台灣國民健康保險計畫的部分經濟負擔。
台灣早就應該趕上世界上大多數國家的腳步,使脊骨神經醫學成為公眾可以完全認可的醫療保健新選擇。一旦公共衛生條件允許,台灣美國商會的脊骨神經醫師成員,敦促當局制訂出一個,給予脊骨神經醫學專業法律認可的計畫。