Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan proposed the idea of relocating Songshan Airport, which attracted the attention of the medical community. Minister of Health and Welfare Shi Chongliang said today that Songshan Airport is an important base for emergency medical evacuation to remote areas and islands. When discussing the relocation, the emergency medical evacuation mechanism and the round-trip transportation costs for supporting medical personnel in remote areas should be included in the planning.
Shi Chongliang attended the "Global Summit on Artificial Intelligence in Physical Therapy" today. In an interview before the meeting, he said that at present, Songshan Airport is the main evacuation airport for outlying island medical evacuation fixed-wing aircraft and air crew evacuation in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Some doctors are also worried that the relocation will affect the round-trip transportation to support medical manpower in rural areas. These highlights that the relocation of Songshan Airport requires more extensive and detailed discussion and planning, and medical evacuation is an issue that absolutely needs to be included in the discussion.
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Shi Chongliang pointed out that medical evacuations from Kinmen and Matsu mainly arrive at Taipei Songshan Airport; Penghu sometimes goes to Kaohsiung, and sometimes goes to Taipei or Taichung. Emergency medical evacuations in Taitung, Orchid Island, Green Island and other places also involve Taipei's medical resources. Therefore, in addition to patient evacuation, the round-trip transportation costs for medical personnel also need to be considered.
Yu Shangru, honorary chairman of the Taiwan Home Medical Association and director of Dulan Clinic in Taitung, pointed out that if Taitung cannot fly directly to Songshan Airport, it will have a great impact on patients' medical treatment. While waiting for the flight, he often saw patients taking flights to Taipei for medical treatment, including those using wheelchairs and other mobility-challenged people. Some people leave in the morning, have a consultation at noon, and return to Taitung in the afternoon. Transportation convenience is very important to their medical needs.
Yu Shangru believes that other locations can be considered for the location of AI parks, while medical care requires direct and physical interaction between people, and transportation convenience and accessibility cannot be ignored.
Chen Yingzhao, chairman of the Taiwan Home Medical Association, said that the relocation of Songshan Airport not only affects Taitung, but also affects Kinmen and other rural areas. Due to family reasons such as daughter's education, some doctors' families still live in urban areas, but they are willing to travel to rural areas to provide services. Songshan Airport is irreplaceable.
Chen Yingzhao pointed out that some specialties in rural areas lack local doctors and require support from doctors in urban areas. The convenience of transportation is an important factor affecting the willingness to support. The time cost and level of fatigue are much different between taking a 1-hour flight and taking a 4- or 5-hour train. If a doctor visits the outpatient clinic in the morning, takes a flight at noon, and can still arrive in a rural area for services in the afternoon, it may be difficult to complete the work in half a day by taking a train.
Liu Handing, a physician at Taitung Christian Hospital, recently posted on Facebook that many of the doctors he knows in Taitung are "flying people" who live in Taipei. They fly to Taitung for work on weekdays and fly back to Taipei to reunite with their families on holidays. A doctor once told him that the transportation cost for traveling to and from Taipei and Taitung for more than ten years was enough to buy a house in Taipei.
Liu Handing pointed out that the one-way trip from Taipei to Taitung on the Taiwan Railway often takes 4 or 5 hours, and it is often difficult to get a ticket even on holidays. He believes that once Songshan Airport is moved, the time and mental costs will increase, and many doctors who use planes as buses may choose to leave. He bluntly said, "If Songshan Airport is moved, Taitung Medical will collapse first." He called for the impact of the relocation on the medical manpower in the east to be taken seriously.
