关岛患者搭包机来台就医 感谢开启美丽人生
2021-02-17
关岛人道包机於1月成行，其中一名女性患者由中国医药大学附设医院收治并赞助医疗费用，院方今天表示，患者经施予胃绕道手术後，原本251公斤的体重已下降20公斤。 中国附医与外交部共同促成关岛人道医疗包机於1月11日顺利抵台。其中一名由中国附医收治的关岛女性患者，到院完成隔离检疫後，配合内科治疗与接受国际代谢形体医学中心院长黄致锟的胃绕道手术後，已成功减重20公斤，预计於9日出院。 外交部北美司长徐佑典也应邀到院探访病人，并感谢医院赞助医疗费用2万美元，以实际行动落实草根外交；这名关岛女患者术後感谢台湾政府及中国附医，「帮助我开启另一个美丽人生」。 中国附医院长周德阳表示，这次关岛人道医疗包机成行真是弥足珍贵，院方启动高规格防疫检查措施，患者入境後搭乘防疫专车到院，入院後直接入住负压隔离病房，前、後两次PCR（聚合酶连锁反应）检测阴性，严格执行各项防护、清洁、消毒工作，在严谨防疫下达到医疗救援的目标。 黄致锟表示，在隔离期间，使用肥胖贺尔蒙治疗同时辅以营养师为患者所设计的低卡高蛋白餐的方式，降低手术时的危险因子，再进行胃绕道手术。在隔离的14 天里，内科减重成果比预期中顺利，已经成功减去20公斤，预计在术後一年，将可减去一半的体重。 徐佑典指出，感谢中国医药大学附设医院在这次关岛人道医疗包机案中居中协调，顺利促成包机，更赞助关岛病患部分医疗费用，以实际行动发挥草根外交效益，使台湾高品质医疗在关岛备受瞩目。 下周将出院返回关岛的患者表示，谢谢大家为她做的这一切，医院赞助她大笔医疗费，关岛台湾商会会长赞助她和母亲的飞机票费用；在这里她受到家人般的照护，「我爱台湾，我爱中国附医」。 （中央社记者郝雪卿）转贴报导：中央通讯社 搭乘关岛人道包机来台就医的一名关岛女性患者（中） 由中国医药大学附设医院收治并赞助医疗费用，在完成胃绕道手术後体重减掉20公斤（院方提供）
关岛患者搭包机来台就医 感谢开启美丽人生
Covid-19 pandemic causes a global democracy slump
2021-02-04
Government-imposed lockdowns and other disease-control measures led to the withdrawal of civil liberties on a massive scale, causing score downgrades across the vast majority of countries. Every region of the world experienced a democratic rollback, but the removal of individual liberties in developed democracies was the most remarkable feature of 2020. The Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa both had a terrible year as autocratic leaders used the cover of the pandemic to crack down on opposition. Asia gained three “full democracies” (Japan, South Korea and Taiwan), while Europe lost two (France and Portugal). The US remains a “flawed democracy”, polarised not only on policy issues but on core values, and the social cohesion needed to support a “full democracy” has collapsed. In Eastern Europe and Latin America, the pandemic compounded existing democratic flaws, including weak checks and balances, persistent corruption, a proclivity in some places for strong leaders, and pressures on media freedom. In the 2020 edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual Democracy Index, which provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide, the average global score fell from 5.44 (on a scale of 0-10) to 5.37. This is the worst score since the index was first produced in 2006. A large majority of countries—116 of a total of 167 (almost 70%)—recorded a decline in their total score compared with 2019. Only 38 (22.6%) recorded an improvement, and the other 13 stagnated. According to our measure of democracy, only about half (49.4%) of the world’s population live in a democracy of some sort, and far fewer (8.4%) reside in a “full democracy”; this level is up from 5.7% in 2019, as several Asian countries have been upgraded. More than one-third of the world’s population live under authoritarian rule, a large share of whom live in China. Of the 167 countries and territories covered by the model, 75 are considered to be democracies. The number of “full democracies” increased to 23 in 2020, up from 22 in 2019. The number of “flawed democracies” fell by two, to 52. Of the remaining 92 countries in our index, 57 are “authoritarian regimes”, up from 54 in 2019, and 35 are classified as “hybrid regimes”, down from 37 in 2019. There were some impressive improvements (Taiwan) and some dramatic declines (Mali). There were 11 changes of regime category, seven negative and four positive. Three countries (Japan, South Korea and Taiwan) moved from the “flawed democracy” category to be classified as “full democracies”, and one country, Albania, was upgraded to a “flawed democracy” from a “hybrid regime”. France and Portugal experienced a reversal, losing the “full democracy” status that they had regained in 2019, re-joining the ranks of “flawed democracies”. El Salvador and Hong Kong were relegated from the “flawed democracy” classification to that of “hybrid regime”. Further down the ranking, Algeria, Burkina Faso and Mali lost their status as “hybrid regimes” and are now designated as “authoritarian regimes”. The deterioration in the global score in 2020 was driven by declines in the average regional score in every region, but especially by large falls in the “authoritarian regime”-dominated regions of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa. The scores for these two regions declined by 0.10 and 0.09 respectively between 2019 and 2020. Western Europe and Eastern Europe both recorded a fall of 0.06 in their average regional scores. The score for Asia and Australasia, the region which has made most democratic progress during the lifetime of the Democracy Index, fell by 0.05. Latin America’s average score declined by 0.04 in 2020, marking the fifth consecutive year of regression for the region. The average score for North America fell by only 0.01, but a bigger decline of 0.04 in the US score was masked by an improvement in Canada’s score. In 2020 the measures taken by governments to address the public health emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic entailed the suspension of the civil liberties of entire populations for prolonged periods. The willing surrender of fundamental freedoms by millions of people was perhaps one of the most remarkable occurrences in an extraordinary year—most people accepted their governments’ decisions to take away their rights and freedoms. But we should not conclude from the high level of public compliance with lockdown measures that people do not value freedom. Most people simply concluded, on the basis of the evidence about a new deadly disease to which humans had no natural immunity, that preventing a catastrophic loss of life justified a temporary loss of freedom. That people reluctantly accepted social distancing and lockdowns as the best means of combating the coronavirus does not mean that governments should not be criticised for their democratic failings. The pandemic turned a spotlight on the nature of governance in 21st-century democracies and, in particular, on the relationship between governments and the people, exposing democratic deficits that have existed for a long time. Download the full report “Democracy Index 2020” to find out more. https://www.eiu.com/n/covid-19-pandemic-causes-a-global-democracy-slump/
Covid-19 pandemic causes a glo...