News Information, the Ministry of National Defense

I.Attendance:

1.Major General Chen Du-gan, Deputy Director of Logistics Division of Air Force Command

2.Colonel Hung Kuang-chen, Director of Department of Medical Planning, Medical Affairs Bureau

II.The Planning of Executing the Offshore Islands Military and Civilian Transport in Chinese New Year

1.The Transport of Military Officers:

a. For the arrangement of the days off of military officers during the vacation in Chinese New Year, Kinmen Defense Command, Matsu Defense Command, and Penghu Defense Command will properly arrange the ways and the days for the military officers during the vacation by following the “Regulations of Military Readiness for Defense Combat in Taiwan and Penghu,” and the transport for back and forth will also be arranged by Army Logistics Command to possibly separate from the rush hours and leave the limited available seats for the civilians.

b. For the way of transport, it will be planned from January 31 to March 1, and the air transport will be operated with the C-130 Hercules Aircraft and Civil Aircrafts for the booking seats (off-peak time) to implement distributed and separated transport to Kinmen, Matsu, and Penghu. Other relevant schedules will be arranged to implement the sea transport to Dongyin, Matsu, and Wuqiu.

III.Supporting Ministry of Transportation and Communications to Execute the Civilian Emergency Transport

a.Launch time: According to “Emergency Operation System for Transporting the Travelers during Airport Suspended Landing Period” of Civil Aeronautics Administration, Ministry of Transportation and Communications can make an application to Ministry of National Defense by faxing the official document to ask the military force to support for the operation when a great amount of passengers are stranded in the airport because of holidays or bad weather in Kinmen, Matsu, and Penghu, and the civil aircrafts are also unable to cope with the immediate requirement of the passengers.

b.Standby time: It is currently planned to cooperate with the transport schedule of Ministry of Transportation and Communications to standby from February 14 to February 21, totally 8 days during the vacation of Chinese New Year.

c.Transport Force: The C-130 Hercules Aircraft is regulated to standby in Pingtung Air Base, true to form, to cooperate with the transport schedule of Ministry of Transportation and Communications and provide the support during the vacation of Chinese New Year on the premise of not affecting the operation of the mission readiness training and damaging the interests of people.

d.The Transport Performance of Last Three Years: According to the calculation of Ministry of National Defense from 2015-2017, the C-130 Hercules Aircraft had assisted to transport 184 times with totally 8,574 people including military officers and civilians.

III.Continuous Medical Services in the Armed Forces Hospitals in Chinese New Year

Ministry of National Defense claimed today (23^th) that the emergency and inpatient services in all armed forces hospitals will still be operated to provide the medical services for the civilians, military officers, and military dependents during the vacation of Chinese New Year in 2018.

Ministry of National Defense pointed out that the clinic schedule of every hospital during the vacation of Chinese New Year could be seen in the appendix table, and all information of the operation has been announced on the official website of Military Bureau (http://mab.mnd.gov.tw/NewsDetail.aspx?id=117). Civilians, military officers, and military’s dependents can check it online, or contact the armed forces hospitals for further information.

Regarding the Army with a lot of experience of humanitarian assistance and disaster rescue, the Military Medical Care has planned all rescue preparedness to standby with 126 people in 21 medical sections and 399 people in 133 medical groups of Public Health Service Crops in the combat zones in order to cope with sudden incidents (like the earthquake in Tainan on February 6, 2016) by providing medical officers for immediate treatment and assistance, and therefore military officers and civilians are safe and protected.

If the emergency medical care is required by the civilians in the offshore islands during the vacation of Chinese New Year, it can be applied to National Search and Rescue Center, and then the air medical service and transport can be sent by the Combined Military Command Center to give immediate rescue and save human life.