Taiwan to review psychiatric hospital emergency transfers after critical delay

Taiwan's Minister of Health and Welfare, Shih Chung-liang, announced a comprehensive review of emergency transfer procedures for psychiatric hospitals following a critical incident at Chi Nan General Hospital. The review comes after a patient suffered food obstruction and required urgent transfer to a general hospital, but an outsourced ambulance took an alarming 65 minutes to arrive.

The patient experienced a severe drop in blood oxygen levels and lost consciousness while eating. Although hospital staff performed immediate life-saving measures, including clearing the obstruction and administering the Heimlich maneuver, Chi Nan General Hospital, being a specialized psychiatric facility, lacked the necessary internal medicine and surgical capabilities to manage a patient with unstable vital signs. The lengthy ambulance delay raised serious concerns about patient safety.

This is not an isolated incident. A similar situation occurred in mid-July when another patient experienced a sudden collapse, and the outsourced ambulance took 27 minutes to arrive. The hospital's contract with the ambulance service stipulates a 25-minute response time, which critics argue is already too long for patients in critical condition.

Minister Shih stated that existing regulations require medical institutions to provide initial emergency care and arrange transfers if they cannot manage a patient. He acknowledged that psychiatric hospitals treat patients with various medical conditions, not just mental illnesses, necessitating robust emergency transfer mechanisms. The ministry will investigate the Chi Nan incident thoroughly and then expand the review to all psychiatric hospitals to ensure timely and effective care for patients facing medical emergencies.

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We will ask the deputy executive director of the Health Promotion Administration to go to Chi Nan General Hospital to understand the actual situation.