My personal experience of medical services in Taiwan has been excellent. Truly world class and much better than my home country, the United Kingdom. My first significant experience was about 5 years ago when I seriously cut my left index finger during a visit to Heng Chuen. The local emergency room doctor (ex-army) did a wonderful job of cleaning, re-connecting the tendon and stitching the wound. For further treatment, I went to Kaohsiung University Hospital in the San Min district of Kaohsiung City and received excellent quality care. Almost 3 years ago, I developed Rheumatoid Arthritis. Once again, first-class care, which is still continuing, from the same hospital. Two years ago, I needed a medical examination and report to support my application for a Permanent Resident Visa.

The same hospital completed all parts of the examination within one hour. They then sent the report to my home. It was detailed, clear and correct. Last year, I felt uncomfortable one Saturday evening. A neighbor kindly drove my wife and me to the same hospital's emergency room. Within one hour, I had a blood test, ---Ray, MRI scan, diagnosis and a bed in a private room. My gall bladder was removed on the following Monday and I was home two days later. I cannot praise this hospital enough. Every time I visit, the staff — all of them — are helpful, polite, efficient, caring and very effective.

However, the experience of my wife, one of her nieces and one of her friends has not been so good. Four years ago, my wife found lumps in one breast. For convenience, she went to a hospital (which I will not name) closer to our home. After a short examination, involving only a simple hand-held ultrasonic scanner, we went back together a few days later for the results. The doctor was dressed more like a business man. He looked at my wife's file, clearly for the first time, after we entered his office. The diagnosis was “malignant tumor” (cancer) and he recommended an immediate operation. They had not even taken a sample (biopsy) for analysis.

We made an appointment for her at my regular hospital.

After a short examination, the doctor said that the lumps were probably only cysts, but he insisted on a biopsy to be sure. The final diagnosis was indeed cysts and my wife could decide whether to have the biggest one removed or not. She indeed decided to have it removed. The operation took less than one hour, using a local anaesthetic. The surgeon did an excellent job, and the diagnosis was confirmed by analysis of the lump after removal. Recently, one of my wife's friends had the same situation. Once again, the University Hospital overturned the original diagnosis of another hospital and even told the lady that she need not take any action immediately, but to just keep checking every three months.

Two years ago, one of my wife's nieces complained about abdominal discomfort. She visited a hospital several times and was told it was only because of her age (sixteen at that time). The problem did not improve, so once again, we recommended a visit to the University Hospital. Her appendix was removed the same day. More delay could have been very serious and could even have killed her. Last month she started to study at this hospital as a university student. It seems to me that there are different levels of care and professionalism here depending on which hospital you go to. As I said, my experience of this University Hospital has been, and continues to be truly first class. Others seem to be more interested in making money and some seem to be not even competent. Our Ministry of Health should enforce rigorous inspections on all hospitals, including conducting interviews with patients to get to know their experiences, and make sure that everyone is working at the highest levels of care, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.