Taiwan's largest class action ever to be filed against oil firms

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-11-29

Consumers line up for refunds before a traditional pastry shop affected by the
oil scandal. (Photo/China Times)

Taiwan's largest-ever class action suit is being filed in response to several oil scandals which for the past 2 years have affected businesses, schools and consumers islandwide. Consumer groups throughout the country have allied themselves, holding a joint press conference on Thursday calling for Taiwanese everywhere to join in the filing, reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times.

The Executive Yuan has commissioned a Consumers' Foundation and Taiwan Consumer Protection Association to file the lawsuit against Chang Guan, Ting Hsin International Group, Cheng-I Food, Beei Hae Oil and Fats as well as their mid- and downstream partners in an attempt to show businesses that unethical practices will not be tolerated and in fact punished harshly.

Recent oil scandals in the country have affected more than 500 companies and 1,000 products.

Schools were also heavily affected by the products foisted upon them. Ten senior high schools and 25 elementary schools in Taiwan used Cheng-I Food products; six senior high schools and 48 elementary and junior high schools used Ting Hsing's oils in their food; and Beei Hae Oil and Fats oils were found to be used in one school, according to the Consumer Protection Committee. These numbers are likely to skyrocket if calculations include schools that used these oils in the past.

Ting Hsin and Cheng-I Foods were found using oils meant for non-human consumption to produce cooking oil while Beei Hae Oil and Fats was busted for mixing non-edible oils and animal feeds oils to produce fake pork oils.

Consumers should unite to give a stern warning to shady and unethical businesses, said to Yu Kai-hsiung, vice chairman of the Consumers' Foundation.

Consumers who had received refunds for products containing the tainted oils but have not signed a waiver settling with their producers are eligible to join the action, which is set to be filed in March next year. One individual can demand anywhere from NT$500 to NT$30,000 (US$16-US$968) in compensation under current regulations.

The Consumers' Foundation will handle applications from members of general public. The Taiwan Consumer Protection Association will help file on behalf of elementary and junior high schools affected and Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs will accept businesses' applications.

A class action against a single company requires at least 20 consumers' applications to be accepted by courts.

The foundation is to begin accepting applications between Dec. 1 of this year and Jan. 5, 2015. Applicants should provide four documents such as receipts and others, available for download on the foundation's website, by mail or submit them in person.

Taiwan's Consumer Protection Association has begun accepting applications from schools beginning Thursday. The Ministry of Health and Welfare will collect the names and manufacturing dates of the oils in 15 days and give the information to the Ministry of Education, which will provide it to schools across the countries to check if they used the oils in the past. The schools will obtain student or their legal guardians' signatures to file the class action via the association.

Related Articles:

Prosecutors seize assets of Ting Hsin's former chairman

Cooking oil scandals put NT$7bn dent in Taiwan's economy

Beijing passes very proactive smoking ban bill

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-11-29

The Beijing government passed a bill to control smoking on Nov. 28. Those
regulations will take effect on June 1, 2015. (Photo/Xinhua)

Beijing adopted anti-smoking legislation on Friday, vowing to ban smoking in all indoor public areas, workplaces and public transport vehicles.

The draft regulation was passed by vote at a meeting of the Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People's Congress. It is scheduled to become effective on June 1 next year.

According to the bill, smoking is also prohibited everywhere, including outside in kindergartens, schools, child welfare institutions, women and children's hospitals, fitness and sports venues, and cultural relic protection sites open to the public.

Tobacco advertisements are not allowed to appear outdoors, in public places and transportation areas, or in media including radio, TV, films, newspapers, books, and internet. All forms of tobacco promotions and title sponsorship are banned.

Teachers are forbidden from smoking in front of students in primary and secondary schools. Schools are also required to help students quit smoking and educate them about the harm of smoking.

The regulation also prohibits selling cigarettes to minors through vending machines and over the internet.

Thai parliament votes to ban commercial surrogacy

Yahoo – AFP, 28 Nov 2014

Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua (L) was at the centre of a surrogacy
 scandal when Australian parents rejected the Downs Syndrom baby she was
carrying for them (AFP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri)

Thailand's parliament has voted to ban commercial surrogacy after outrage erupted over the largely unregulated industry following allegations an Australian couple abandoned a baby with Down's syndrome, a legislator said Friday.

A draft bill -- which would see anyone profiting off surrogacy given a maximum ten year prison sentence -- passed its first reading in the country's military-stacked parliament on Thursday, legislator Wallop Tungkananurak said.

"We want to put an end to this idea in foreigners' minds that Thailand is a baby factory," he told AFP.

"The bill was adopted with overwhelming support."

Commercial surrogacy was technically banned by Thailand's Medical Council, but until recently even top fertility clinics were believed to offer the service.

The murky industry came under intense scrutiny this summer after a series of surrogacy scandals broke involving foreigners.

In August, a Thai mother who carried twin babies for an Australian couple accused them of abandoning a baby boy with Down's syndrome while taking his healthy sister.

The couple have denied deliberately leaving the boy, called Gammy, with the surrogate mother -- who was paid around $15,000 to carry the twins.

In a separate case, police believe a Japanese man fathered at least 15 babies with surrogate mothers for unknown motives.

A gay Australian couple were also stopped from leaving Thailand with a baby because they had incomplete documents.

Thailand's military junta, which took over in a May coup, vowed to crack down on the industry.

Dozens, possibly hundreds, of foreign couples are thought to have been left in limbo after entering into surrogacy arrangements through clinics in the kingdom.

Rural India's low-cost sanitary pad revolution

Related Articles:

US consumer giant seeks to smash India menstruation taboos

Indian children asked to blow whistle on open defecation

Founder of Indian sanitation charity Sulabh International

Bindeshwar Pathak (C) demonstrates his low-cost two-pit toilet

This Man Is Modi's Best Chance To Make India Sanitary

Rotterdam to tackle air pollution, ban old cars from city centre

DutchNews.nl, November 28, 2014

Rotterdam council plans to improve the city’s air quality and has drawn up a €12m package of measures which locals will be asked to approve, Dutch media report on Friday.

The plans include getting rid of polluting cars and slashing pollution levels. In addition, the council’s own fleet of vehicles will be overhauled to reduce its pollution rate by 25%. 

The council is also considering financially rewarding owners to get rid of polluting cars. In addition it suggests that no more parking permits will be given for diesel vehicles built before 2005 and petrol-driver cars predating 1992.

More charging stations will be built for electric vehicles and there will be better bike facilities. 

The council also wants to ban lorries from the ‘s Gravendijkwal, currently the city’s most polluted road and a major highway that leads to the Maas tunnel. Transport organisations have already criticised the lorry ban proposal, saying it will force freight firms to use longer, more expansive routes, the Financieele Dagblad reported.

Research shows Rotterdammers live three years less than the average Dutch national, which is partly due to road pollution.

Utrecht and Amsterdam have already taken steps to reduce the number of polluting cars in their city centres.

E-cigarettes contain up to 10 times carcinogens: Japan research

Yahoo – AFP, Harumi Ozawa, 27 Nov 2014

E-cigarettes contain up to 10 times the amount of cancer-causing agents as

regular tobacco, Japanese scientists say (Photo by Joe Raedle / Getty/AFP/File)

E-cigarettes contain up to 10 times the level of cancer-causing agents in regular tobacco, Japanese scientists said Thursday, the latest blow to an invention once heralded as less harmful than smoking.

The electronic devices -- increasingly popular around the world, particularly among young people -- function by heating flavoured liquid, which often contains nicotine, into a vapour that is inhaled, much like traditional cigarettes but without the smoke.

Researchers commissioned by Japan's Health Ministry found carcinogens such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in vapour produced by several types of e-cigarette liquid, a health ministry official told AFP.

Supporters of e-cigarettes say the devices

 are a safer alternative to traditional tobacco,

 whose bouquet of toxic chemicals and

gases can cause cancer, heart disease 

and strokes

Formaldehyde -- a substance found in building materials and embalming fluids -- was present at much higher levels than carcinogens found in the smoke from regular cigarettes, the official said.

"In one brand of e-cigarette the team found more than 10 times the level of carcinogens contained in one regular cigarette," said researcher Naoki Kunugita, adding that the amount of formaldehyde detected varied through the course of analysis.

"Especially when the... wire (which vaporises the liquid) gets overheated, higher amounts of those harmful substances seemed to be produced."

Kunugita and his team at the National Institute of Public Health, who submitted their report to the ministry on Thursday, analysed several cartridges of e-cigarette fluid using a machine that "inhaled" 10 sets of 15 puffs.

One brand, the name of which was not revealed, showed a more than 10-fold level of formaldehyde on nine out of every 10 sets.

Another brand showed similar levels on several sets, but was not consistently that high.

Kunugita said the research showed e-cigarettes are not the harmless products many people assume them to be.

"We need to be aware that some makers are selling such products for dual use (with tobacco) or as a gateway for young people" to start a smoking habit, he warned.

In common with many jurisdictions, Japan does not regulate non-nicotine e-cigarettes.

'Serious threat'

Nicotine e-cigarettes, or so-called Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS), are subjected to the country's pharmaceutical laws, but they can be bought easily on the Internet, although they are not readily available in shops as they are in some Western countries.

"You call them e-cigarettes, but they are products totally different from regular tobacco," the ministry official said.

"The government is now studying the possible risks associated with them, with view to looking at how they should be regulated."

In August, the World Health Organisation called on governments to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, warning they pose a "serious threat" to unborn babies and young people.

E-cigarettes had been growing in popularity as a healthier alternative to

cigarettes (Photo by Leon Neal / AFP/File)

Despite scant research on their effects, the WHO said there was enough evidence "to caution children and adolescents, pregnant women, and women of reproductive age" about e-cigarette use, due to the "potential for foetal and adolescent nicotine exposure (having) long-term consequences for brain development".

The UN health body also said they should be banned from indoor public spaces.

US health authorities said earlier this year that the number of young people there who have tried e-cigarettes tripled from 2011 to 2013.

More than a quarter of a million young people who had never smoked a cigarette used e-cigarettes last year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Supporters of e-cigarettes say the devices are a safer alternative to traditional tobacco, whose bouquet of toxic chemicals and gases can cause cancer, heart disease and strokes -- among the leading causes of death in many countries.

But opponents say the devices have only been around for a few years, and the long-term health impact from inhaling their industrial vapour is unclear.

Big tobacco companies are snapping up producers of e-cigarettes, wary of missing out on a snowballing global market worth about $3 billion.

Earlier this month, Oxford Dictionaries picked "vape"-- the act of smoking an e-cigarette -- as their new word of the year.

Congolese doctor receives EU prize for helping rape victims

Yahoo – AFP, 26 Nov 2014

Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynaecologist, has been awarded the European
Parliament's prestigious Sakharov human rights prize (AFP File)

Doctor Denis Mukwege received the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov human rights prize on Wednesday for his work in helping thousands of gang rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

European Parliament president Martin Schulz, who presented the 59-year-old with the award at a ceremony in Strasbourg, said Mukwege "fought for the dignity of women, justice and peace in his country".

"You have eased the pain of countless women and girls and offered them a helping hand so that their injured bodies and broken bodies may be healed," said Schulz.

A Congolese delegation sang for joy and waved flags from the parliamentary gallery as Schulz handed Mukwege a plaque to mark the award, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov.

Mukwege -- who was named as recipient of the award in October for his work in treating the appalling injuries inflicted on the victims -- said he hoped the prize would help to bring the plight of women in his country to an end.

"By this prize you have decided to raise the visibility of the struggle of Congolese women," he said to repeated standing ovations from European MPs in the huge parliament chamber.

"In every raped woman I see my wife, in every raped grandmother I see my mother, in every raped child I see my children," added Mukwege, whose spouse attended the ceremony with him.

He has previously been tipped as a possible Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Members of the pro-Western Ukraine democracy and rights group EuroMaidan, which led the popular revolt against deposed president Viktor Yanukovych, were invited to the ceremony as runners up for the prize.

The third candidate was prominent Azerbaijani rights activist Leyla Yunus.

Rival forces fighting for control of the vast mineral riches in eastern DR Congo have used mass rape for decades to terrorise the local population into submission.

Mukwege trained as a gynaecologist, going on to found the General Referral Hospital of Panzi near Bukavu in South Kivu province which has seen some of the worst violence.

He survived an assassination attempt two years ago after speaking out about the continued use of rape in the conflict and accused the world of failing to act.

Last year, however, he defied threats and returned home to a warm welcome from thousands of people.

The Sakharov prize in 2013 was won by Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai, while previous winners since the award was founded in 1988 include late South African rights icon Nelson Mandela and Myanmar activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

Buddhist sutras bring 95-year-old Yunlin woman back from the dead

Want China Times, CNA and Staff Reporter 2014-11-24

Yang Chang Yueh-yun clapping on her "deathbed," Nov. 21. (Photo/ Hsu Su-hui)

A 95-year-old woman in Taiwan's southern county of Yunlin came back from the dead last week after her family played her recitations of a Buddhist sutra, the China Times, sister paper to Want China Times, reported Friday.

Yang Chang Yueh-yun, 95, was pronounced dead from multiple organ failure on Nov. 14 after being hospitalized for over 10 days, according to her son Yang Shun-wen.

She was then taken home, which funeral directors had made ready for a service. Recitations of a Buddhist sutra were played, in keeping with local religious tradition.

The next day, Yang's cousin decided to put earphones around her aunt and played her a different sutra, according to her family.

Yang Chang surprised her family when she started clapping and reciting the sutra about five minutes after a recording of the sutra was played.

Yang Chang surprised even more people when her son took her mother back to the hospital where she had stayed at the following day, to the utter astonishment of the doctor who had treated her.

On Thursday, members of a Buddhist group visited the old lady in the hospital. She greeted her visitors with smiles, while patients next to her said they felt amazed after she made conversation with them.

Dutch blood company Sanquin ‘taking too many risks with US adventure’

DutchNews.nl, November 23, 2014

Dutch blood company Sanquin is taking great risks with its efforts to move into the American market, the Volkskrant said in a major investigation at the weekend.

Sanquin is a privately held foundation which has a monopoly on blood supplies in the Netherlands and which hopes to process blood for the US market as part of its international expansion. However, it has run into trouble getting approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, the paper said.

FDA inspectors have recently been in the Netherlands to check out the company’s operations. Two previous visit resulted in reprimands for the Dutch company and a third official warning will have major implications because of the US policy of ‘three strikes and you are out’, the Volkskrant said.

Sanquin is responsible for collecting blood from donors in the Netherlands and supplying blood products to hospitals. The company hit the headlines earlier because of the large pay packets and bonuses it paid to some board members.

There is also pressure on the foundation to divide its activities into two, separating its public function from its commercial activities. Many donors have expressed concerns that blood they give free of charge is being used for commercial ends.

The company has made major investments in recent years in order to expand its medicine production capacity, resulting in the deal to process plasma for the US market.

However, it is clear the company needs to clarify its structure so that the public and commercial arms do not conflict with each other, the Volkskrant said in an editorial.

Obamacare Reup Defaults to Low-Cost Plan Under Proposal

Jakarta Globe - Bloomberg, Nov 23, 2014

US President Barack Obama. (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)

Obamacare customers who choose to re-enroll in insurance plans would automatically default to cheaper coverage during sign-up periods, protecting them from price increases, under rules proposed by the US government.

The rules, which would not apply until the 2016 benefit year, were released on Friday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The changes, which also include requirements for insurers on the transparency of their rate increases, are open to public comment.

Changing the way open enrollment works may help the Obama administration address one of the quirks of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

On Dec. 15, consumers who are already insured through the government marketplace will automatically be enrolled again in their current plan, even if their insurer has raised prices on premiums.

That means customers who are not aware they should be shopping around will be getting higher bills in January than they expect, though they can still change to lower-priced plans through Feb. 15.

There were about 6.7 million people covered through Obamacare insurance plans through Oct. 15, and the administration has been urging them to check whether their premiums are rising.

“Because premiums may change significantly from one year to the next, the plans that are most competitively priced in one year may not continue to be the most competitively priced in subsequent years,” the agency, which oversees the federal health insurance exchange, said in its proposal.

“Because we believe that many consumers place a high value on low premiums when selecting a plan, we believe that consumers could benefit from alternative re-enrollment hierarchies.”

The most popular plans in the marketplace in 2014 are increasing their premiums by 10 percent on average in 2015, according to Avalere Health, a Washington consulting firm. In 2014, 28 percent of exchange users chose the lowest-cost silver- level plan, the firm said. Consumers who shop around during the enrollment period will probably find a cheaper plan, Avalere said.

While open enrollment for Obamacare began last weekend without the technical problems that plagued the federal government’s healthcare.gov site last year, the Affordable Care Act’s supporters have faced several setbacks.

US Health Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said this week that her agency made a mistake when it added dental-plan customers to recent figures on Obamacare enrollment, drawing criticism from Republicans such as Representative Darrell Issa of California.

Earlier this month, Burwell lowered the bar for the administration’s goals, saying the number of people insured under Obamacare would increase to about 9.1 million next year.

Bloomberg

UN chief says Ebola could be contained by mid-next year if response heightened

UN leaders are calling for the world to step up anti-Ebola efforts, despite infection rates slowing in some worst-affected countries. The UN is expanding its mission to Mali in the hope of preventing further outbreaks.

Deutsche Welle, 22 Nov 2014

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for international leaders to stay engaged on Ebola. Recent data has shown a slowing of the rate of transmission in two of the three worst-affected west African countries, Guinea and Liberia. However, Sierra Leone was still reporting a high incidence of transmission.

"If we continue to accelerate our response, we can contain and end the outbreak by the middle of next year," Ban said.

According to the World Health Organization, 15,351 people have been sickened by Ebola in eight countries since the latest outbreak emerged in West Africa late last year. Of those, 5,549 have died. Experts agree that the real figures may be higher as not all Ebola deaths were reported as such.

Ban expressed concern about the recent spread of Ebola in Mali, where at least six people have died of Ebola and hundreds are being monitored in case of infection.

"Decisive national action combined with international support today will help to prevent a spread of the outbreak in Mali to crisis proportions tomorrow," Ban said as he ordered the United Nations mission for Ebola emergency response to set up in the country.

More assistance needed

The head of the UN's Ebola mission warned a huge increase in aid was still needed to fight the virus.

"There is a long battle ahead of us," Anthony Banbury told the UN Security Council Friday, saying a "tremendous increase in resources on the ground, in a dispersed geographic area" was required to fight the epidemic. "We are far, far away from ending this crisis," he added.

In previous months, the United Nations said about $1 billion (about 800 million euros) would be needed to stop the outbreak, but the world body recently increased that figure to $1.5 billion and was shifting its focus to preventing the virus spreading in rural areas.

"If we take our eye off the ball, case numbers will rise again, and we will all count the cost," the UN's special envoy on Ebola, David Nabarro, told the UN Security Council in New York.

While it was widely acknowledged that more health workers were needed to fight Ebola, doctors who have treated Ebola patients have also contracted the disease. In Switzerland, a 43-year-old doctor from Cuba who contracted the virus while working in Sierra Leone is undergoing treatment.

se/jm (dpa, AP, AFP, Reuters)

Related Article:

"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. The Role of Gaia in Human Consciousness

One of those times might be frightening for you to know about, since it was a full cooperation with Gaia for your termination, and a pandemic almost wiped humanity off the map. A pandemic! Now, you say, "What has that got to do with Human consciousness, Kryon?" Pay attention, dear ones, because this is the day where the teaching was given by my partner, and he put together the Nine Human Attributes. One of the attribute sets included three Gaia attributes and one of them was the consciousness of the planet. Gaia is related to Human consciousness!

Are you starting to connect the dots? You are connected to this planet in a profound and spiritual way. As goes humanity goes the planet's consciousness. Gaia, Mother Nature, whatever you want to call it, cooperates with Human consciousness. If you spend 1,000 years killing each other, then Gaia will do its best to cooperate with your desires! Gaia will look at Human consciousness and try to help with what you have shown you like to do! Did you know this role of Gaia with you? It's a partner with you, fast tracking what you give to it. You may wish to review what the indigenous of the planet still understand. Gaia is a partner!

Pandemic: Don't you find it odd that in the last 50 years, when you have a population of seven billion Human Beings, with up to 2,000 airplanes in the air at any given moment, going between almost every conceivable place, that there has not been a pandemic in your lifetime? There have been five starts of potential pandemics over the last 20 years, yet none became serious. Did any of you put this together? Dear ones, when the world was far less populated a few hundred years ago, with no mass travel to spread a virus, there were still millions wiped out by a pandemic. With the increased population and mass travel, there is far more danger today than before. It doesn't make sense, does it? What happened to stop it?

When you know humanity's relationship to Gaia, it makes sense. Gaia is a life-force that is your partner, watching you change the balance of light and dark and reflecting what Humans want. It has polarity, too! Perhaps it's time to start your meditations with thanking your planet Earth for supporting you in the spirituality of your Akash, for always being with you, a life-force that is always present. The ancients started their ceremonies in that way. Have you forgotten?

Ebola

Now, I've just set the stage for the next subject, haven't I? Ebola. Are you afraid yet? Gaia is a life-force that is a part of Human consciousness. My partner put it on the screen today so you could see the connections [during the lecture series]. Now it's time to connect the dots. Dear one, Gaia is in the battle, too, for here comes something scary that you haven't had in your lifetime and you're afraid of it - the potential of a pandemic on the planet.

There's a very famous film that has some dialogue that my partner will quote. Some of you will know it and some of you won't, but here it is: "Have a little fire, scarecrow?" What are you afraid of? Darkness? Gaia is in the battle with you and is actively pursuing solutions through light. The energy of the planet is with you in this fight! The ebola virus is a shock and a surprise. It is propelled by ignorance and fear, so it can flourish. Look at where it started and look at how it gets its ability to continue. It expands its fear and power easily with those who believe it's a curse instead of those who understand the science.

Villages are filled with those who refuse to leave their family members because they believe the disease is a curse! FEAR! Instead of understanding that they should be in isolation from the virus, the family dies together through ignorance and fear. This represents how darkness works. Are you going to become afraid also? Dear ones, ebola will be conquered. Know this and be at peace. Pray for light for those in the villages who are afraid, that they can know more about how to keep the spread of this disease and live to see their families. .”

Uganda jails five for genital mutilation

Yahoo – AFP, 21 Nov 2014

In Uganda it is illegal to carry out genital mutilation or discriminate against
any woman who hasn't had it done

Five men and women in Uganda have been jailed for mutilating the genitals of girls, a rare conviction in the country which is trying to stamp out the often deadly practice.

The five, including those who carried out the mutilation -- which can range from hacking off the clitoris to the removal of the entire female genitalia -- were arrested in eastern Uganda's Kapchorwa district last week.

All pleaded guilty to aiding or procuring female genital mutilation (FGM), which was outlawed in 2010. They were jailed for four years, according to the Daily Monitor newspaper.

Uganda's law makes it a crime to not only carry out FGM or participate in any event leading to its practice, but also to discriminate against a woman who hasn't had it done.

While dozens of arrests have been made since the law's introduction, there have been few prosecutions.

Police spokesman Fred Enanga said although the practice was "dying out" in some regions, it was still considered "a tradition" in Kapchorwa district and many continued to practise in secret.

"The law has created fear within communities, you won?t find them having these cultural days where families bring out their girls," he told AFP. "It is no longer a cultural event like male circumcision."

Florence Auma from the UN population fund UNFPA, which campaigns to end FGM, said any arrests and convictions were welcome.

"It shows the law is catching up with them and they're implementing the law," she said.

Apart from the intense pain itself, immediate dangers include bleeding and infection. In the longer term, risks include infertility and complications during childbirth, sometimes resulting in the death of the baby.

Earlier this month UN chief Ban Ki-moon launched a global campaign to end FGM within a generation.

Related Article:

Watershed moment for Egypt's FGM ban

Mediplus Aims to Fill In Health Insurance Gaps

Jakarta Globe, Kennial Caroline Laia, Nov 20, 2014

Siloam International Hospital in Cikaran. (Photo Courtesy of Siloam)

Jakarta. Lippo Group announced on Wednesday the launch of its newest health insurance product, Mediplus, touted as serving the goal of improving access to adequate health care for Indonesians.

S. Budisuharto, the director and corporate secretary of the Siloam Hospitals Group, said the product was a “breakthrough” in a medical insurance, adding that Mediplus marked one of Siloam’s commitments to support the national universal health insurance scheme, known as JKN, which is managed by the Social Security Organizing Body (BPJS).

“We are fully aware the government has issued its universal health insurance scheme earlier this year [on Jan. 4]. JKN is the part of government’s commitment to ensure Indonesians’ health protection,” Budisuharto said.

“Lippo fully supports the scheme by introducing Mediplus to provide health support for middle-class Indonesians, especially those whose needs haven’t yet been accommodated by JKN,” he said.

Lippo Insurance president director Agus Benjamin said Mediplus could solve health problems by providing affordable costs, but with great benefits, especially for middle-class Indonesians.

“Today we’ve launched a qualified and comprehensive health service that has a total solution for people who are looking for a health care plan with unlimited privileges,” Agus said at the Mediplus launch in Jakarta on Wednesday.

“This is a synergized product that has already obtained cooperation with several hospitals to ensure its implementation once the user purchases it.”

Mediplus, he added, will cover unlimited outpatient care, ambulance and emergency care access, first-class hospitalization, medical evacuation and surgery guarantee up to Rp 300 million ($24,700) per year. The insurance premium will cost Rp 7.98 million annually, and cover a family of two parents and two children. Families must pay another Rp 1 million per year for each additional child.

Andry, the chief operations officer of the Siloam Hospitals Group, said the hospital chain was open to giving the best services to Mediplus subscribers.

“Mediplus participants are free to do medical check-ups anytime in any Siloam hospital and partner locations. In addition, we also provide exclusive access for Mediplus holders to facilitate their health services,” Andry said.

“Mediplus is easily obtained at every Siloam hospital in Indonesia. It is also available at several malls, as well as Matahari, Hypermart and Boston drugstores. Consumers can also subscribe online or by phone,” Agus said.

“Once the consumers purchase Mediplus, they will be told several pre-requirements of Mediplus,” he added.

Mediplus is targeted to provide health coverage for approximately 50 million middle-class Indonesians, for subscription periods of up to five years and protection up to the age of 65.

“This is a good deed from us. With this affordable health insurance, you can gain many privileges. This is our commitment to this nation, since we believe a great nation is built on healthy families,” Agus said.

The Jakarta Globe is affiliated with Lippo Group.

Watershed moment for Egypt's FGM ban

Sohair el-Batea died after her father took her to a rural Egyptian doctor to have her genitals cut. The two men are the first to go on trial under Egypt's FGM ban, which could be a turning point. Kristen McTighe reports.

Deutsche Welle, 19 Nov 2014

When Sohair el-Batea's father took her to Dr. Raslan Fadl's clinic in the Nile Delta village of Dierb Biqtaris to have her genitals cut, her family thought it would make her like most Egyptian girls. The vast majority of women in her community had undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), the illegal procedure done in the name of promoting chastity.

But when news spread that an allergic reaction to penicillin killed el-Batea during the operation and her father confessed that the procedure was done at the family's request, local activists and international rights groups began to campaign for justice. And when the country's chief prosecutor agreed to take up the case, el-Batea became the center of a seminal trial and the first of its kind since Egypt banned the practice in 2008.

With a further court date on Thursday in the trial of the doctor who performed the FGM procedure and el-Batea's father, activists hope a precedent for justice and accountability will finally be set. But in a country where the practice remains widely accepted and deeply entrenched, others say the trial and criminalization will do little to eradicate FGM.

Impunity for doctors and families

"It is a deep-rooted tradition in Egypt, a cultural tradition that has been going on for years and years, as it has in Africa," said Suad Abu-Dayyeh, Middle East and North Africa consultant at Equality Now, the international women's rights group that led, the push to bring el-Batea's case to trial.

According to Egyptian government figures, 91 percent of women ages 15 to 49 have been subjected to the procedure. UNICEF, the United Nations children's agency, estimates that one-fifth of the 125 million women worldwide who have undergone FGM are from Egypt. Only three countries - Somalia, Djibouti and Guinea - have a higher rate.

Following the death of a 12-year-old girl in 2008, Egypt passed a law banning the practice in all its forms. But doctors continued to practice FGM in private in both rural and urban areas, and little has been done to enforce the law. The death of al-Betea in June of 2013 brought FGM back into the spotlight.

FGM defenders

While this time around many believe the doctor and father will be convicted, members of al-Betea's community have said they will continue the practice and have supported the doctor and her father.

"People in Dierb Biqtaris practice this ugly habit and they think it's an Islamic tradition that should be followed and practiced," Reda Al Danbouki, a lawyer and local activist, told DW. "And for that they are sympathetic with the doctor and the father of Suhair and say that her death was [the will of God and no one can stop it]."

Although many in Egypt's poor, rural communities continue to defend FGM, citing religious reasons for the practice, there is no basis in religion. In other Arab Muslim countries like Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, the practice is nearly non-existent. Practiced by both Muslims and Christians in Egypt, it has been condemned by leading religious figures.

"I don't think very many people are taking the law seriously; they think the law is just something that is there that they can ignore - and the alarmingly high numbers are proof of that," said Mona Eltahawy, an activist, writer and author of a forthcoming book on the fight for gender equality in the Arab world. "I think it is something that Egypt uses to show the international community that the law is on the books."

The doctor in al-Batea's case continues to see patients in the girl's hometown
of Dierb Biqtaris

Still, other activists see the trial as an important opportunity for the government to send a clear message that the ban will be enforced.

"Sohair's case is very, very important in terms of implementing the law in Egypt," said Abu-Dayyeh, adding that it is the first time since the legislation was passed that anyone has been prosecuted for FGM. "We believe - and we hope - that the judge will sentence the father and the doctor under the FGM law."

Apart from setting a precedent for accountability in a country where very few people speak about the practice, Abu-Dayyeh said the trial has received considerable coverage in local media.

"The Egyptian media was very much interested [in the trial], and were with us in some of the sessions in court," she said.

Regardless of the impact of the trial and the criminalization of FGM, people like lawyer al-Dankoubi say more needs to be done to educate and raise awareness. While civil society groups have been working to do this, he says the state must do more to train preachers within the ministry of religious endowments to educate people about the dangers of FGM. In addition to enforcing the laws, he said punishments should be tougher.

Female sexuality

And for Eltahawy, it is what she calls "society's desire to control female sexuality" that needs to be addressed.

"What we need to confront in Egypt is our obsession with female virginity, because this is ultimately what FGM is about," she said. "FGM is a way that families control their girls' sex drives, and a way for society to control women's sexuality, and unless the conversation about FGM is carried out within those parameters, we stand no chance of eradicating it."

"You can have all the court cases you want and people will still do it, because they don't believe women have the right to sexual pleasure," she said.

Related Articles:

Worldwide FGM ban sought at 'Girl Summit' in London

Muslim Council of Britain says female genital mutilation is 'un-Islamic'

Ban Ki-moon: FGM a 'human rights violation' that must end

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear and beloved Kryon: What should we know about "Brit-Mila" (Jewish circumcision)?

Answer: All circumcision was based on commonsense health issues of the day, which manifested itself in religious-based teaching. That basically is what made people keep doing it. This eighth-day-from-birth ritual is no more religious today than trimming your fingernails (except that Brit-Mila is only done once, and it hurts a bit more).

It's time to start seeing these things for what they are. Common sense is not static. It's dynamic, and related to the culture of the time. Yesterday's common sense about health changed greatly with the discovery of germs. It changed again with practices of cleanliness due to the discovery of germs, and so on. Therefore, we would say that it really doesn't make a lot of difference in today's health practices. It's done almost totally for cultural historic and traditional purposes and holds no energy around it other than the obvious intent of the tradition.

This is also true for a great deal of the admonishments of the Old Testament regarding food and cleanliness, and even the rules of the neighborhood (such as taking your neighbor's life if he steals your goat, or selling your daughter in slavery if you really need the money... all found in scripture). The times are gone where these things matter anymore, yet they're still treated with reverence and even practiced religiously in some places. They're now only relics of tradition, and that's all. If you feel that you should honor a tradition, then do it. If not, then don't. It's not a spiritual or health issue any longer.

Be the boss of your own body and your own traditions. Follow what your spiritual intuition tells you is appropriate for your own spiritual path and health.