《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Income inequality a big issue, Ko says

DAMNING STATISTIC: The Taipei mayor said he had been shocked to discover that more than 50 percent of the capital’s population now live in low-income households

The divide between rich and poor is more important than that between the pan-green and pan-blue political camps, independent Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je （柯文哲） said yesterday, reaffirming his commitment to transform the city’s system of municipal hospitals.

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Ko made his comments at the inauguration ceremony for the new head of Taipei City Hospital, Huang Sheng-chien （黃勝堅）, at the hospital’s Zhongxing branch.

In remarks at the ceremony, the mayor said income inequality is one of the most serious problems facing society.

“The increase in the divide between rich and poor overshadows the divide between the ‘blue’ and ‘green’ political camps,” Ko said, adding that the seriousness of Taipei’s income inequality was the reason he was elected.

Ko said he has been reading up on income inequality and wants to retract his previous remarks denying that only the inheritance of economic status （not income inequality as such） is an important social issue.

He said that he had been shocked to discover that the number of low-income households had increased to more than 50 percent of Taipei’s population in the past 10 years, adding that often people from relatively wealthy backgrounds such as himself lack a sense of the scale of the poverty in the capital.

“In my view, in any capitalist society, education and healthcare should be socialized,” Ko said. “It’s important to effectively provide medical care to disadvantaged people throughout all of Taipei.”

Ko reiterated his commitment to make access to healthcare throughout the city more convenient by increasing the services available at municipal hospitals and turning hospitals into “community” hospitals, which treat more conditions directly rather than referring patients to other medical centers.

He said this vision was a major reason for choosing Huang as the new head of Taipei City Hospital, praising Huang’s experience as head of National Taiwan University Hospital’s Jinshan （金山） branch, which provides medical services to small communities on the northern coast.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES