Serious Medical Gap Between Taiwan Proper and Offshore Islands|醫療資源缺乏 離島醫師長期人力不足

Seeing a doctor is not a difficult task for most. However, there is only one doctor serving more than 4,000 residents on Green Island. Starting from April 5, two more doctors will arrive on the island to provide support. However, Orchid Island also faces the same problem, reflecting the long-term challenge of the lack of medical resources in rural and remote areas in Taiwan.


A young girl accidentally hit her head on the desk and she begins to bleed. Her mother immediately took her to the local health clinic, only to find out the doctor was away at the time. The mother was angry and published a Facebook post saying the doctor only eats all day without seeing patients. She deleted the post a day after and said it was a misunderstanding. However, the incident still exposed the fact that more than 4,000 residents on Green Island can only see one doctor, which leaves him with little time to rest.

The Taitung government has collaborated with E-Da Hospital to dispatch two additional doctors to the island in hopes to provide assistance. The residents on the offshore Orchid Island also face similar challenges. When they got sick, the first thing they worry about isn't heading to a hospital, but getting a place on the airplane to see doctors elsewhere.

It's dangerous if a patient needs to be sent to another hospital (that's not on the island). Unless the doctor considers the case an emergency, a patient won't transfer to the emergency department by himself or herself, the doctor won't allow it, unless there is ultra place available.

(Seeing a doctor) isn't a big deal on Taiwan proper. Something that can be easily treated at a clinic. For us, we should travel far. It requires us getting on this plane or this boat.

There is only one airplane that offers flights to Orchid Island, and three places are reserved for patients on each flight. A total of 17 doctors and nurses have to take care of the over 5,000 residents on Orchid Island. They not only have to deal with the shortage in manpower and equipment, the medical staff all have to be ready 24 hours a day.

We have to treat anyone who comes to our door, it doesn't matter if it's a normal case or an emergency. It's easy for patients to get Computed Tomography (CT) or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI) on Taiwan proper, we don't have the resource to do that here.

The abnormally large ratio between doctors and patients have exposed the shortage of medical resources in rural and remote areas. The doctors on Orchid Island can only hope that a proper hospital can be built on the island which could help resolve the shortage of medical and human resources.



女兒的頭意外撞到桌腳，流了一堆血，趕緊被帶到綠島的衛生所就診，卻吃了閉門羹，怒氣沖沖的媽媽在臉書上發文，以為醫生只顧吃飯不看診，雖然一天後就刪了文，強調是誤會，但綠島鄉四千多位居民只有一位醫師，幾乎沒有喘息時間，卻是事實。

台東縣政府協調義大醫院，4月5號起就會再增派兩名醫生到島上支援、分擔工作，不過像這樣的醫病關係，同樣也在蘭嶼發生，鄉親要是生病了，第一件事不是要擔心醫院、而是有沒有機位。

蘭嶼居民 陽文華表示：「後送很危險，他除非要急轉診，不然你轉診，他也不給你位置，也是要補位。」

蘭嶼居民 陳沛雨表示：「在台灣根本沒什麼大不了，就是診所就可以看到的病，對我們而言，我們就是要千里迢迢，我們就是一定要搭這趟飛機、搭這趟船。」

目前只有一家航空公司飛蘭嶼，每架次有三個轉診機位被保留。當地衛生所醫師加上護理師，一共17人要照顧五千多名蘭嶼人的健康，除了器材、人力不足，醫護人員也住在衛生所樓上的小宿舍24小時待命，靠的是一股使命感咬牙苦撐。

蘭嶼衛生所醫師 王祥安表示：「就是我們這邊不分門診、急診，人來就是要看，台灣要做什麼電腦斷層，要做什麼核磁共振，那個都很簡單，這邊沒有辦法。」

醫病比嚴重失衡，也突顯偏鄉醫療資源長期不足的困境，現在蘭嶼的醫師只希望能有醫院進駐，改善醫療環境、也解決醫護人員短缺的問題。