Former Health Director Yang Zhiliang.Photo: Zhang Liangyi / photo
At the end of the year, the 9-in-1 election is two months down the road. The Taipei mayoral election is fierce. Chen Shizhong, a candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party, thinks that it is a pity that Jiang Wanan, the candidate of the Kuomintang, only has the experience of a legislator. Thinking that Jiang should choose the mayor after training in various committees of the Legislative Yuan, Jiang Wanan’s campaign spokesman Li Dewei countered, saying that Chen Shizhong was only a dentist “not even a doctor”, so why should he be the minister of health and welfare and the mayor? As soon as this remark came out, it was criticized by the dentists. However, if you look at the past experiences of the Minister of Health and Welfare and the Director of Health, you can find that there are many ministers and associations who have no experience in doctors and dentists, such as Yang Zhiliang.
Li Dewei said that Chen Shizhong had only served as an administrative officer and had never experienced the baptism of public opinion. “How dare you talk about Jiang Wan’an”, and countered Chen. If he thinks that Jiang should go through various committees of the Legislative Yuan to be suitable for the election of mayor, according to this logic, Chen is only a dentist and a doctor. If you can’t even talk about it, how can you be the Minister of Health and Welfare, and why should you choose the mayor?
This remark was counterattacked by the dentists. The chairman of the Taipei Dentists Association, Xiao Yangchan, believed that this statement was very disrespectful to the dentistry profession. He wanted to make a solemn protest on behalf of the Taipei Dentists Association, and called on Jiang Wanan and the team to apologize. Xiao Yangchan said, Dentists are listed in the Physician Law, and their role as physicians is unquestionable, dedicated to maintaining the oral health of the Chinese people.
In response to the controversy over the statement that “a dentist is not a doctor”, Li Dewei explained afterwards that Chen Shizhong, who had been the Minister of Health and Welfare, was completely fallacious in logic. According to Chen Shizhong’s own logic, wouldn’t he be qualified to serve as Minister of Health and Welfare as a dentist in the past? Li Dewei emphasized that this interview completely followed Chen Shizhong’s logic to answer the media interview, which highlighted Chen Shizhong’s absurdity. However, due to media reports, he was considered to be a dentist, not a doctor, and therefore could not serve as Minister of Health and Welfare. It’s not my original intention, please bear with me.
However, if you look at the qualifications of the ministers of health and welfare and the director of health in the past, you can find that many ministers and directors have no medical experience, including the former vice president Chen Jianren, who was the director of health, and Yang Zhiliang, the former director of health.