In light of the ongoing dengue outbreaks in southern Taiwan, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) convened the “Tainan City-Kaohsiung City Healthcare Integration Mechanism Coordination Meeting” in the morning of September 12, 2015 at the Southern Regional Center of the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC). During the meeting, several consensuses were reached and one of them was that dengue NS1 antigen test would be covered by the National Health Insurance (NHI).

Dengue NS1 antigen test would be covered by NHI beginning mid-September the soonest. Taiwan CDC would carefully devise the use of the NS1 antigen test to target certain individuals in order to prevent and reduce waste. Individuals who are over 60 years old, meet the case definition of dengue fever, are diagnosed with dengue with warning signs (Group B Patients) within 7 days of disease onset, and reside in Tainan City, Kaohsiung City or Pingtung County are eligible for government-funded NS1 antigen test. For people residing in other cities and counties, Group A Patients), they are advised to stay home and rest after receiving proper treatment and health education.

In addition, MOHW has designated four hospitals, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare Tainan Hospital, Tainan Municipal Hospital, Tainan Municipal An-Nan Hospital, and Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital Tainan Branch, as Dengue Treatment Centers and requested those four hospitals to set a section of their wards for receiving and treating dengue patients. When a patient is diagnosed with dengue with warning signs or severe dengue (Group B and C Patients), the hospitals need to administer proper treatment accordingly.

The Superintendent of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Hospital Prof. Yang Chyun-yu, the Superintendent of Chi Mei Hospital Dr. Chio Chung-ching, the Superintendent of Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital (KMUH) Dr. Chung Yin-wen, the Vice Superintendent of Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Dr. Lin Meng-chih, and the Superintendent of China Medical University Hospital Chou Der-yang have all agreed to provide wards for severe cases and healthcare personnel to support the newly established Dengue Treatment Centers.

The Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Tzou-yien pointed out that the continuously increasing number of dengue cases might affect severe patients’ access to health care. To help hospitals cope with a surge of patients, six medical centers will form a medical care advisory committee to advise the hospitals in Tainan City about the appropriate administration of health and medical care services in order to effectively treat severe cases and classify patients accordingly.

Today’s meeting was cohosted by the Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Tzou-yien and Tainan City Mayor Lai Ching-te. The meeting participants included the Taiwan CDC Director-General Kuo Hsu-Sung, Prof. Ih-Jen, Su of Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Commanders and Deputy Commanders of the Southern Regional Center and the Kaohsiung-Pingtung Regional Center of Taiwan CDC, Tainan City Government, Kaohsiung City Government, and 10 medical centers and hospitals in Tainan City and Kaohsiung City.

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne infectious disease, which is highly sensitive to environmental conditions. Hence, thoroughly eliminating vector breeding sites remains the most fundamental way to prevent dengue transmission. Taiwan CDC stresses that everyone needs to participate in dengue prevention and control efforts in order to successfully bring the outbreak under control and ensure the health of all.