KUALA LUMPUR - Taiwan’s Health Minister Shih Chung-liang said the ministry has proposed revisions to labour regulations that would allow hospitals to directly employ foreign care workers to support patients with acute conditions.

Shih said the ministry began piloting the Inpatient Integrated Care programme three years ago to meet the daily care needs of hospitalised patients, as reported by Taiwan News.

Before the programme, patients or their families were required to hire caregivers independently, a practice that sometimes led to disputes with hospital management, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the scheme, hospitals employ care assistants to work alongside nurses at a ratio of one caregiver to four or five patients.

The costs of the service are shared between patients and Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system.

Shih said feedback from the programme has been positive, noting that smaller households often struggle to cope when a family member is hospitalised.

However, he said hospitals are facing a shortage of domestic caregivers, prompting the proposal to recruit intermediate-skilled foreign care workers.

Previously, foreign care workers were only permitted to work in long-term care facilities, chronic care wards or respiratory care wards, and were barred from general hospitals.

With care needs among acute inpatients rising and the integrated care programme easing family burdens, the ministry sees a need to expand the existing policy.

Shih stressed that the proposal is not intended to replace nurses, despite some misconceptions.

He said the move would instead reduce frontline nurses’ workloads, allowing them to focus on professional responsibilities while care workers assist with daily needs.

Shih added that the ministry is optimistic about the proposal, which has been submitted to the labour ministry for review.

The ministry aims to complete the regulatory amendments in the second quarter of this year, although the actual hiring of foreign personnel would take longer.