Taiwan
Population (2018): 23.694 M (World Population, 2018)
Income per Capita (2018): 24,318,000 US (Income per Capita, 2018)
Percentage of GDP on Healthcare (2015): 6.63% (World Bank, 2015)
Training
practice
Number of family doctors: 5,377
Physician to population ratio: 21.7 physicians/ 10,000 (Executive Yuan Open database)
QALY:
DALY:
Life Expectancy: 81.32
Females 2017: 84.75
Males 2017: 78.11
Infant mortality rate 2021: 4.5 deaths per 1000 live births
College of Family Physicians (Y or N): Yes, Taiwan Association of Family Medicine
Year Family Medicine was Established: 1976
Length of Medical School: 7 years
Length of Training Program: 2 years of post-graduate general medicine training, 3 years of postgraduate training for family medicine specialty
Type of Training: Residency (Family medicine, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Community Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Emergency Medicine, Otorhinolaryngology/ ENT, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Geriatrics, Palliative Medicine, Radiology, Electives)
Number of Institutions That Offer Family Medicine Training: All 11 medical schools in Taiwan offer family medicine training.
Number of Trainees: Approximately 130 graduate students (10%) of all medical graduates choose to enroll in family medicine training annually (Jan et al., 2019).
Number of Family Physicians: 5,377 (Jan et al., 2019).
Number of Physicians: 21.7 physicians/ 10,0001 (data verified on Executive Yuan Open database, which is in Mandarin)
Healthcare System
Training
Taiwan requires 6 years of post-secondary medical school training4. Duration of post-secondary medical school training was reduced from 7 years to 6 years in 2013, following a nationwide reform. This is followed by 2 years of post-graduate training. Specialty training occurs after post-graduate training. For family medicine, a 3-year residency is compulsory to become a licensed family physician.
Depending upon the hospital and institution, training might differ slightly, but the total duration of training is the same (ie. 3 years) and standardized throughout the nation. The following information is translated from Family Medicine Physician Training Program Schedule as stipulated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan
practice
Taiwan enjoys a high standard of affordable healthcare that is highly specialized due to the establishment of the Universal Healthcare System in 1995. In Taiwan, family physicians are not gatekeepers, as it is not necessary to see a family doctor to be referred to a specialist (Wang et al., 2019). Nevertheless, family medicine physicians in Taiwan continue to be capable of managing the most common diseases for people of all ages including acute upper respiratory infections, essential hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia (Wang et al., 2019)
References
“Curriculum”, College of Medicine, Tapei Medical University. Accessed December 1, 2018, http://medicine.tmu.edu.tw/members/super_pages.php?ID=members1
“Curriculum”, Mackay Medical College. Accessed December 1, 2018, http://www.mmc.edu.tw/medicine-eng/Curriculum.asp
“Income per Capita”, Trading Economics (2018), Accessed November 7, 2018, https://tradingeconomics.com/
Jan, C. F., Hwang, S. J., Chang, C. J., Huang, C. K., Yang, H. Y., & Chiu, T. Y. (2020). Family physician system in Taiwan. Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA, 83(2), 117–124. https://doi.org/10.1097/JCMA.0000000000000221
“Percentage of GDP on healthcare”, World Bank (2015), Accessed November 25, 2018, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS
Wang, Y. J., Liu, H. Y., Chen, T. J., Hwang, S. J., Chou, L. F., & Lin, M. H. (2019). The Provision of Health Care by Family Physicians in Taiwan as Illustrated With Population Pyramids. Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing, 56, 46958019834830. https://doi.org/10.1177/0046958019834830
“World Population”, Worldometers (2018). Accessed December 1, 2018, www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/
Wu, T.Y., Majeed, A., and Kuo, K.N., “An overview of the healthcare system in Taiwan”, London Journal of Primary Care 3, no. 2: 115-119 (2010). Accessed December 1, 2018, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3960712/