Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) announced on 11 Nov that it will allocate approximately NT$2.4bn (US$74m) to improve an urgent need for dental care in rural areas.
As of August 2024, MOHW said that 157 areas across the country lacked sufficient dental medical resources, with 55 of these areas having no practicing dentists in rural areas.
In accordance with its ‘Optimizing Rural Medical Care Improvement Plan Phase II (2025-2027)’ to enrich local dental care capacity, the three-year initiative starting in 2025 will prioritise rural areas and give priority to disadvantaged groups.
Under the plan, the MOHW aims to improve dental care by:
- Allocating NT$770m (US$23m) to deploy senior dentists to support rural areas
- Launching a training programme to recruit new dentists who will be serve in rural areas after completion of the training. The programme will include a clinical component at partnering training hospitals worth NT$150m (US$4.6m) and a training subsidy of NT$200m (US$6.2m).
- Funding training hospitals with NT$190m (US$5.8m) for long-term support to rural areas, NT$100m (US$3.1m) for business expenses, and NT$190m (US$5.8m) for additional manpower incentives to maintain the medical and teaching capacity.
- Subsidising NT$300m (US$9.2m) to replenish facilities and equipment for service institutions in rural areas, and an incentive fee of NT$120m (US$3.7m) for dentist who transfer to and stay in rural service institutions.
- Providing outreach services to residential long-term care institutions in rural areas, including rewards for achieving the accommodation institution’s indicators, totaling NT$340m (US$10.5m).
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