Medical miracle
In Taiwan, only those who score the highest in college entrance exams can enter medical school. That’s why the smartest and top talents in the country are doctors.
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In Taiwan, only those who score the highest in college entrance exams can enter medical school. That’s why the smartest and top talents in the country are doctors.
It is commonly recognized that Taiwan is one of the world's leading producers of information and communication technology products.
However, it is not so widely known that the country is among the world's top medical-care providers with advanced capabilities in biotech and pharmaceuticals.
Taiwan has ranked No. 1 in the world in Numbeo's mid-year "Global Health Care Index by Country" for five consecutive years with a score of 85.9 this year, on top of South Korea, Japan, France and Netherlands.
Numbeo is the world's largest database of user-contributed data about cities and countries which calculates a health score for each country based on technology, medical personnel qualifications, medical equipment, waiting times, accessibility of medical locations and staff friendliness.
When it comes to health expenditure index, Taiwan ranked first as well with a score of 157.8.
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One National Geographic Channel documentary in 2012 dubbed the medical miracle in Taiwan and mentioned that among the world's 200 best hospitals, 14 of them were located in Taiwan, which made Taiwan one of the best and most affordable countries in Asia for patients to seek medical help.
One of the significant reasons Taiwan is able to provide high quality medical care is because being a doctor is one of the most sought-after jobs and only those who score the highest in college entrance exams can enter medical school. That's why the smartest and top talents in Taiwan are doctors.
On top of that, Taiwan began hospital accreditation programs in 1978, accrediting specific teaching hospitals providing practicum for medical students.
The accreditation of hospitals was conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare but the Joint Commission of Taiwan was given the task in 1999. JCT aims to help healthcare organizations improve their service with recognition of accreditation and certification, thereby achieving the mission of enhancing healthcare quality in Taiwan.
To develop and strengthen bilateral cooperation in South and Southeast Asian countries, the One Country, One Center project was launched in June 2018 with India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam as primary partners.
The New Southbound Policy countries are linked with hospitals in Taiwan to expand professional training programs, build medical industry collaborations and provide health consultation services for Taiwanese working and doing business in partner-countries.
In 2018, 336 medical professionals from partner countries were trained in medical centers in Taiwan and 69 enterprises were introduced to the target region.
Despite its high-quality services and relatively low costs, Taiwan is often overlooked as a medical tourism destination.
In fact, Taiwan offers quality medical services especially in living-donor liver transplantation, craniofacial surgery, cardiovascular therapeutics, artificial reproductive technology and arthroplasty surgery. Moreover, to establish a smart health environment, Taiwan is integrating its leading-edge information technology capacities with innovative medical management.
For instance, Taiwan has a high success rate of 81 percent for heart, liver and kidney transplants compared to 77 to 79 percent in the United States, and on average, the hospital and surgery costs are just 1/6 of the United Kingdom, 1/5 of the US and 1/3 of Japan, which makes Taiwan one of the best destinations for medical tourism.
Another example is infertility treatment. The trends of delayed marriage and nonmarriage in Pacific Asian countries have a great impact on their fertility rates and thus cause infertility problems for many couples. Consequently, healthcare facilities are also promoting tourism packages for couples to receive infertility treatment in Taiwan.
