Zeng Wanting, chairman of the Taiwan Egg Freezing Association, said that in the future, the "degree of damage to fertility caused by treatment" should be considered as the basis for evaluating medical fertility preservation subsidies.
[Reporter Lin Zhiyi/Taipei Report] The National Health Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare has promoted the "Medical Fertility Preservation Subsidy Pilot Program" since September last year. In the first year since its implementation, 215 cancer patients have passed the subsidy qualification review. However, civil groups have called for the subsidy not to be limited to specific cancer types, but should be based on the degree of damage to fertility. In this regard, the National Health Service of the Ministry of Health and Welfare said that "the long-term impact of cancer treatment on fertility" is one of the possible directions for relaxation in the future, but there is no clear timetable.
The National Health Administration has promoted the "Medical Fertility Preservation Subsidy Pilot Program" since September 1 last year, providing fertility preservation subsidies to breast cancer and blood cancer patients aged 18 to 40. Zhang Yingchun, director of the Maternal and Child Health Group, pointed out that during the one-year period from the launch of the pilot program to September 30 this year, a total of 215 cancer patients passed the subsidy eligibility review, of which 44 were men and 171 were women.
Zeng Wanting, chairman of the Taiwan Egg Freezing Association, said that according to the 2023 cancer registration data of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, there were a total of 5,165 new cancer cases in women of childbearing age in my country between 20 and 39 years old. If they were only distinguished by cancer type, 3,672 of them were not eligible for subsidies under the current pilot program of the National Health Administration, and the proportion was as high as 71%.
Zeng Wanting also mentioned that although there are 199 hospitals in my country that participate in cancer registration, only 39 of them are special artificial reproduction institutions. As a result, some cancer patients, even if they meet the subsidy cancer category, may have to go to other institutions to seek egg freezing services because the hospital where cancer treatment is performed cannot provide fertility preservation, and therefore cannot receive government subsidy support.
Therefore, Tsang Wanting pointed out that medical fertility preservation subsidies should cover "the risk of fertility damage caused by malignant tumor treatment, gonadotoxic treatment or disease" rather than being limited to specific cancer types. Taiwan should also consider using "the degree of damage to fertility caused by treatment" as the basis for subsidy evaluation in the future.
Huang Xinhui, chief physician of TFC Taipei Reproductive Center, also believes that cancer patients should have time and correct knowledge to decide whether to undergo medical egg freezing before the treatment really harms ovarian function. Government subsidies should be based on the fertility toxicity of the treatment.
Regarding relevant suggestions, Zhang Yingchun said that the National Health Administration continues to collect external opinions and evaluate how to expand the subsidy targets, including the possibility of making "cancer treatment has a long-term impact on fertility" as a subsidy condition. However, there is no clear implementation timetable at this stage. It has also collected opinions from cancer patients who participated in the pilot program, and studied the operation methods of cross-hospital referrals and cross-agency implementation models to improve the accessibility and convenience of services.
