Ms. Moi Lin Ling (林美玲), President of the Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control, and Director-General of the Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control and Congress Chairperson;
Professor Chun-Ming Lee (李聰明), President of the Infection Control Society of Taiwan;
Mr. Shan-Chwen Chang (張上淳), President of the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan;
Mr. Tzou-Yien Lin (林奏延), Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare;
Mr. Steve Hsu-Sung Kuo (郭旭崧), Director General of the Centers for Disease Control;
Distinguished experts and guests;
Ladies and gentlemen:
Good evening!
I'm very pleased to be here today for the 7th International Congress of the Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control. First, I would like to thank the Infection Control Society of Taiwan and the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan for hosting this event, and for bringing together scholars and experts from so many countries for mutual exchange and interaction. And on behalf of the government and people of the Republic of China, let me extend a warm welcome to all of you.
The Republic of China government really became aware of the importance of infection control back in 2003 during the SARS epidemic. Taipei City was the most heavily affected area in this country, and as mayor, I had to monitor the epidemic at all times. I even lived in my office without going home for 42 days!
Ladies and gentlemen, I am a lawyer by training. I knew nothing about infection control until SARS came. So during that period, the epidemic was at a critical stage. And at one point, there was even some suspicion that I myself was infected, because I did have a fever. To keep the city government operating during the epidemic, I divided city officials into two groups. I led one group, and the deputy mayor led the other. That way, if anyone was infected and had to be quarantined, the other group could take over. And that's how we ensured that city government would continue to function.
During the SARS epidemic, there was a large-scale infectious outbreak at Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital. Back then, no one knew the source of the SARS pathogen, nor did we know its route of infection. So we had no choice. We had to put the entire hospital under emergency quarantine. And as the facts later confirmed, that decision effectively prevented the infection from spreading outside the hospital. It also controlled the infection inside the hospital. So although the SARS epidemic took a heavy toll on Taiwan society as a whole, we learned many lessons about infection prevention. And we've made big improvements in terms of infection control ever since.
As a rule, when it comes to preventing epidemics, we always "hope for the best, but prepare for the worst." So after the SARS epidemic, our government used the lessons we learned to amend the Communicable Disease Control Act.
Now, when an epidemic occurs, the first thing we do is set up an inter-ministerial Central Epidemic Command Center to enhance response effectiveness. We also conduct hospital infection control checks, set up the Communicable Disease Control Medical Network, and establish an international contact network for information about the epidemic.
In addition, medical personnel monitor emergency room patients. If patients have a fever or other possible symptoms of infection, they're immediately quarantined and subject to emergency response procedures.
The infection control methods we developed have already become standard operating procedure (SOP). But over the past few years, those epidemic prevention and control measures have also been effective in protecting the health of citizens of my country against threats from the H1N1 virus, H7N9 avian flu, and the Ebola virus.
Infection control is an important element of healthcare policy. At the World Health Assembly last year, the director of the World Health Organization made a special appeal to the leaders of member nations. The director called on them to make a firm commitment to enhancing infection control, investing the necessary funds, and promoting infection control programs on a national scale.
Over the past few years, the ROC government has also become aware of the importance of infection control. So each year we allocate tens of millions of NT dollars to promote many national infection control programs.
One example is the National Hand Hygiene Program that the government promoted in 2010 and 2011, one of many important nation-wide infection control programs. That program was designed to cut the risk of infection when visiting a medical facility for treatment, to visit patients, or conduct business.
As part of that program, all hospitals at the regional level and above had to install hand-washing facilities in treatment areas—including hospital wards and patient rooms. That could mean something as simple as installing dispensers for alcohol-based hand sanitizers. That program successfully raised the installation rate of hand-washing facilities from 62.6% to 99.1%. So it's no surprise that hand hygiene compliance rates rose from 75.8% to 87.1%. Before the program was instituted, the infection rate was 2.2%. But after implementation, it dropped to just 1.8%, a decrease of 18%.
In addition to healthcare-related infections, we were also hoping to stop the growth of drug-resistant bacteria due to the overuse of antibiotics. So in 2013 we began promoting our Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP). The program encourages medical facilities to use antibiotics appropriately, and prevent the spread of drug-resistant bacteria.
As a result of the ASP, total antibiotic consumption by hospital patients dropped 2.3%. Detection of the CRAB bacterial pathogen in clinical samples taken from medical facilities also dropped from 60.5% to 56.5%.
This year, the Republic of China also came out with modular care plans for ventilators and catheters, hoping to reduce the related infections as much as possible.
But what I want to emphasize is that in terms of infection control, there are still many areas where the government can do more. So we will continue to invest resources, and combat new infectious diseases, healthcare-related infections, and the threat of drug-resistant bacteria. As always, our efforts are dedicated to the health and welfare of all our citizens.
I trust that over the next four days, all of the scholars and experts here will share their research findings and experiences in infection control, and give us valuable suggestions that will benefit the country's public health policy.
I also hope that, in addition to participating in the Congress, you'll also find time out of your busy schedules to enjoy Taiwan's very rich cultural life and gourmet foods, and our beautiful scenery. There are two places I would like to suggest. One is the National Palace Museum, where you will see the art treasures of the last 3,500 years from our glorious past. I also advise that you go to see the night market, where you will see the real daily life of our citizens.
And finally, please accept my best wishes for health, happiness, and a very successful International Congress.
Thank you very much!