The Minister of Health and Welfare Chiang Been-huang visited Hsinchu Mackay Memorial Hospital and National Taiwan University Hospital Hsinchu Branch today (March 9) to inspect the hospitals’ contingency responses to the influenza outbreak. He gained an in-depth understanding of the front-line influenza contingency measures of each hospital, paid on-site visits to observe admissions in the emergency rooms and intensive care wards, instructing hospitals to focus on medical issues, and both central and local health authorities to enthusiastically assist in contingency responses with maximum effort. In collaboration with city and county public health centers, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) activated the Influenza Contingency Hospital and Medical Scheduling mechanism on March 8, adding another 3 hospitals, namely Pingtung Antai Community Hospital (Level A), MOHW Chishan Hospital (Level B) and Taipei Medical University Hospital (Level B), bringing the total number to 32. With regard to the scheduling of ECMO machines, the central and local authorities worked together to complete scheduling a vacant ECMO machine from MOHW Taipei Hospital to Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital. 
According to statistics collected as of 10am today (March 9), there are in total 69 patients queuing for intensive care unit (ICU) beds in Advanced Emergency Responsibility Hospitals countrywide; among them 5 are influenza patients. Today the total of medical centers with waiting lists greater than 5 for ICU beds is 6 hospitals, which are Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, China Medical University Hospital, Chiayi Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, National Cheng Kung University Hospital and Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital. They are located in Taoyuan City, Taichung City, Tainan City, Chiayi County and Kaohsiung City. All of them have requested their superior public health authorities to activate the contingency hospital referral mechanism. 
The MOHW states that statistics as of 9am today (March 9) show a total of 995 vacant ICU beds in departments in emergency responsibility hospitals in Taiwan: (General Physician, 279; Department of Medicine, 93; Department of Surgery, 120; Division of Cardiology, 31; Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, 11; Division of Neurology, 8; Division of Neurosurgery, 21; Division of Pediatrics, 161; Division of Neonatology, 138; Burn Center, 77; Division of Respiratory Therapy, 53; Negative Pressure Therapy, 3) and 491 respirators. There are 386 vacant ICU beds in departments in Advanced Emergency Responsibility Hospitals: (General Physician, 10; Department of Medicine, 31; Department of Surgery, 73; Division of Cardiology, 22; Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, 11; Division of Neurology, 8; Division of Neurosurgery, 19; Division of Pediatrics, 69; Division of Neonatology, 52; Burn Center, 59; Division of Respiratory Therapy, 31; Negative Pressure Therapy, 1) and 181 respirators. There are 486 beds in departments in Intermediate Emergency Responsibility Hospitals: (General Physician, 157; Department of Medicine, 56; Department of Surgery, 45; Division of Cardiology, 9; Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, 0; Division of Neurology, 0; Division of Neurosurgery, 2; Division of Pediatrics, 91; Division of Neonatology, 84; Burn Center, 18; Division of Respiratory Therapy, 22; Negative Pressure Therapy, 2) and 148 respirators. There are a total of 113 ECMO machines in 36 Advanced Emergency Responsibility Hospitals; 39 of them are available. 
According to statistics collected as of 3pm on March 8, on account of the hospital admission and treatment status and patients’ willingness to be referred, the contingency differentiation mechanism was activated 42 times: (Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 4 times; Taichung Veterans General Hospital, 5 times; Chimei Hospital, 12 times; National Cheng Kung University Hospital, 13 times; Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 6 times; Chiayi Christian Hospital, 1 time and Taipei Cathay General Hospital, 1 time). 
In response to the emergency medical demands in the future, the MOHW is also actively planning a “Contingency Combat Information Center”. Adopting a data warehouse concept, the center will compile both instant and regular data collected from all business agencies and present it for expert interpretation to establish an early warning and scheduling mechanism for medical resources.