TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) addressed the problem of overcrowded emergency rooms in remarks to the media on Tuesday.

Chen, a certified physician, made four recommendations: adjust medical and nursing benefits, improve ER capacity, implement patient diversion at all levels, and review the national health insurance payment system.

According to Chen, medical and nursing benefits need to be improved to allow staff to cope with the high-pressure environment of the ER. Chen said that failure to increase benefits would inevitably lead to the loss of qualified staff, per CDNS.

Chen said the current allocation of emergency beds in Kaohsiung is still within a controllable range. However, he added that increasing ER capacity was important as was distributing ER services across Kaohsiung.

In this regard, he said southern Kaohsiung will soon have a hospital upgraded to critical care services. Chen added that the new president of Kaohsiung Municipal Minsheng Hospital is an ER specialist from the Veterans General Hospital system, further improving the city's ER capability.

According to Chen, the recent round of influenza and norovirus has accounted for a considerable proportion of ER visits. If a tiered medical care program can be implemented, emergency room visits could be reduced by 20-30%.

Chen said the medical referral system should be better utilized in the future to effectively allocate medical resources between large medical centers, regional hospitals, and clinics. Properly diverting patients to appropriate care would be one key to resolving ER congestion.

At the moment, Chen said that the Kaohsiung Medical Development Fund only has between NT$1-2 billion (US$30.5-61 million), which is not enough to provide comprehensive support for current ER problems. He called upon the central government to review the current national health insurance payment system and solve fundamental problems within ER rooms to retain hard-working medical staff.