The ROC Department of Health may relaunch scholarships in 2014 for medical students willing to serve in unpopular fields and areas where physicians are in short supply, Shih Chung-liang, director of the DOH Board of Medical Affairs, said July 21.
“Many medical personnel are not disposed to working in the demanding and high risk fields of internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and emergency medicine,” Shih said at a DOH medical summit in Taipei City.
“Instead, they change tracks to work in specialties where patients pay more, such as medical cosmetology and health checkups.
“We plan to provide scholarships for 50 more students per year in the five fields most lacking in doctors. When they finish their training, they will be assigned to work for six years in parts of Taiwan where physicians are needed.”
Shih noted that such government scholarships were offered between 1975 and 2009, but the program was suspended as few students actually wanted to serve in remote areas.
Tsai Shu-ling, a division chief with the DOH Bureau of National Health Insurance, added that to enhance doctors’ willingness to work in the five most needed specialties, the government is considering pouring in NT$4 billion (US$133 million) in 2013 to increase the NHI’s payment standards, while examination fees in obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and surgery will also be adjusted.
Recruiting new blood in fields where doctors are needed, reducing medical disputes and risks, improving medical services in remote areas, and enhancing emergency room safety were among the issues discussed at the summit, the DOH said. (THN)
Write to Grace Kuo at mlkuo@mofa.gov.tw