TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei City Department of Health said Monday it will expand its free lung cancer screening program on Saturday to include volunteer police, firefighters, and traffic police aged 35 and older.
Qualified participants serving in Taipei can receive a free low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) chest scan every two years at five Taipei City Hospital branches: Zhongxing, Renai, Heping, Yangming, and Zhongxiao, per CNA. More than 9,300 frontline personnel, including about 3,500 police officers and firefighters and 5,800 volunteers, are expected to be eligible.
The department said lung cancer has been the leading cause of cancer deaths in the city for more than 40 years. National Taiwan University Hospital physician Chen Chin-hsing (陳晉興) said 60% to 70% of lung cancer patients have never smoked, noting the importance of environmental exposure and family history, CNA reported. He added that the five-year survival rate exceeds 90% when the disease is detected at Stage 1.
The city introduced additional subsidies for police officers and firefighters last year, providing free LDCT screenings for those aged 40 and older. Of the 765 people who have been screened so far, two lung cancer cases were detected.
The department said the city’s broader publicly funded lung cancer screening program remains available every two years at 29 hospitals for eligible heavy smokers and people with a family history of lung cancer under national screening guidelines.
