Grasp the Important Points In Post-SARS Reconstruction

SARS has caused quite a lot of damage to Taiwan's economy, and has exposed a number of latent problems. For these reasons, at this time when the epidemic is gradually stabilizing but SARS or some other infectious disease might resurface at any time, it is proper for the government to have proposed a post-SARS reconstruction plan for Taiwan. This planning must prescribe the right remedial steps, however, and must distinguish between the important and the trivial, the urgent and the less urgent.

One of the four "cores" of any post-SARS reconstruction plan is the re-engineering of the public health- and medical-care system. Judging from the fact that most SARS infections occurred in hospitals, the policy of strengthening hospital administration and instituting graded medical treatment is the right way to go. Graded and categorized medical treatment, however, must be matched by an expansion of facilities, and facilities that are more widely distributed in different areas, along with a reasonable health-insurance payment system. The ideal of the patient-referral system, which was tried several years ago, failed because of a lack of this kind of coordinated planning. This time we are backed by the SARS experience, and we must not go down that road again. Standard operating procedures in hospital administration must be established, those procedures must be strictly observed, and they must be accompanied by good facilities and flow-of-movement planning. We should inaugurate a movement to review the deficiencies of the present operating methods—not just to prevent SARS, but also, and even more importantly, to eradicate thoroughly the casual practices that have been exposed by the present epidemic. For example, the tragic accident that happened a few days ago, when a primary school student climbed, without permission, into an unlocked truck that was parked on the school campus, had a go at manipulating the controls, and crushed another student to death, was the result of a series of people—the truck driver, the school administration, the student—failing to follow the rules, or perhaps even the fact that there were no rules. The government should encourage all sectors of society to bring all problems like this up for discussion.

With respect to the improvement of public and environmental hygiene, Taiwan's ratio for connections to sewage systems is not one-sixth that of the industrially advanced countries; if we should suffer the occurrence of a disease that is transmitted through excreta or other types of sewage, the consequences would not bear thinking about. Although the central government is now actively helping local governments to strengthen the construction of sewage systems and the connection of residential units to those systems, and has also started using the BOT (build-operate-transfer) system to boost the coverage of sewage systems, in view of the fact that contagious diseases pose a grave threat and that sewage construction is very backward in Taiwan, the government should provide extra subsidies to areas that complete such BOT projects at an early date so that all local areas will be encouraged to speed up the implementation of BOT sewage-sytem projects.

The handling of garbage is another environmental-hygiene issue that merits more attention. Taiwan has expanded the construction of garbage incinerators, but the process of garbage collection is still rather unsanitary. In Taipei seven or eight years ago, garbage was piled everywhere and the smell was unbearable; later on, during Chen Shui-bian's term as mayor, he instituted a "no trash touching the ground" policy and the living environment was greatly improved. There are still a lot of places throughout Taiwan, however, where garbage is handled by piling it outside to await collection. Even Taipei has forgotten the filthy situation of the past, and some people want to re-establish the "garbage pile" system. We feel that in no case should we backpedal in this area, and that the only way forward is for the central and local governments to make the garbage collection and disposal process more sanitary.

In the area of community care, there is nothing wrong with the government's proposals to strengthen community activities and mutual-protection systems; what we would like, however, are more concrete studies and feasible programs. In the case of SARS and other community affairs, for example, numerous neighborhood and ward chiefs have not fulfilled their proper functions; in the future, they should be charged with taking on more tasks in ordinary times, such as regular visits to disadvantaged residents, the oversight of environmental hygiene, and the reporting of damage to public facilities such as streetlights and sewer covers. This would make them into true community-service providers instead of just tools to be used at election time.

We should also give expression to the market mechanism and allow all sorts of community services, including security, environmental hygiene, home care, and care for children and seniors, to be handled more through the market function. Based on the principle of common benefit, community residents themselves should improve the planning, development, and maintenance of their communities. In addition, we should establish a rational compensation system for victims of contagious diseases, those who are forced into home isolation, and others who suffer losses for the public good so that the people will cooperate more closely with public policies and those policies can be implemented more thoroughly. Looked at from the angle of the market, or of human selfishness, this is practical as well as necessary. Also, however, we should launch social movements and activities inspiring people to have greater concern for society and for others, and greater civic consciousness as well. In this respect, we hope that civic groups will be able to do more good than the government.

With respect to the revitalization of industries, the most useful thing to do in the short term would be to assist in the development of various kinds of domestic travel. Substantial achievements have been made in the development of the rural recreation industry and maintenance of forest and riverine ecologies, and the government should integrate these achievements, and the major accomplishments that have been made in economic construction, with the travel industry and encourage everybody to organize healthy domestic travel activities. The government-financed China Youth Corps possesses huge resources, and at this time these resources should be devoted to the support of all kinds of healthy leisure activities.

The government is also paying attention to improving food and beverage operations; not only is there an urgent need for improvement in traditional F&B operations and the F&B market, however, but the government must also pay attention to the maintenance of the jobs, livelihoods, and cultural characteristics represented by this industry. The government should map out a general plan, encompassing the re-engineering of hardware and the establishment of operating standards, for the improvement and development of these industries. To reduce future risk for companies, assure the smooth operation of production and transportation, diversify investment, and encourage Taiwanese enterprises to return and develop their business in Taiwan, it would be useful to speed up implementation of the free port policy and other policies for improving the investment environment. This would be a great help, and it may not be necessary to think about too many new measures.

National image promotion, which is the fourth "core" of the government's reconstruction plan, is relatively unimportant. If the other policies are carried through properly and the misunderstandings that prevail overseas are cleared up promptly, the national image will be upgraded without any special promotional effort to improve it.