Taiwan

Taiwan is one of the few Asian countries whose medical infrastructure has levelled with world leaders within a very short time span. Medical tourism today is experiencing intensive development and integration into the national health care system. Such rapid progress is owing to good training and qualification of medical staff. The majority of doctors and nurses undergo professional training and practice in the leading medical centres of Western Europe, North America, and Japan. Medical centres have excellent technical facilities, and telemedicine is widely implemented. Most pharmaceuticals, materials, and medical products are manufactured locally. These are the cheaper versions of the produce of renowned pharmaceutical brands, but equally effective and of same quality. The cost of medical services here is several times lower than in Japan, Western Europe, and the USA.

Private clinics in Taiwan strive to ensure maximum comfort of stay for patients. The wards are supplied with multi-function beds, satellite TV, free Internet access. Wonderfully attentive and hospitable personnel are always ready to help. 

At present, medical centres of this small insular state offer their overseas patients a broad selection of possible medical services. The reasons for visiting this country range from a simple visit to a dentist to the most complex cardio surgeries. We should specifically note bone endoprosthetics and cardiology, with patients from all corners of the world arriving here for this sake. Local professionals are of very high standing and frequently invited to other countries when patient transportation is impossible. Plastic surgeries, laser vision correction, artificial insemination, alcohol and drug addiction treatment are performed at a supreme level, provide excellent results, and are constantly in demand by patients from all over the world.

Recommended time for treatment: March through May and October through November

Clinics:

• Shuang-Ho Hospital
• Taipei Veterans General Hospital
• Wan Fang Medical Center

3* from €90

4* from €120

5* from €150

Taiwanese national dishes are based on rice, soy, and vegetables. Soy is used to cook main dishes, as well as milk, butter, salty spread, “tofu” cheese, a selection of sauces. Various rice, maize, millet, kaoliang porridges are very popular. Traditional dressings are soy sauce and curry. Interestingly, each cook prepares dressings and sauces by his own recipe. National Taiwanese cuisine is characterised by an unusual combination of products, for example, aubergines under a soy sauce, omelette with radishes, soy cheese under  red sauce, pancakes with onions and pepper, “tea eggs” or “Cha Ye Dan” (a dish made from rice broth, beets, and vegetables), “Zongzi” (rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves), “liáng bàn huáng guā” (pickled cucumber salad).

Fish and Sea Product Dishes

They occupy a particular place in the Taiwanese national cuisine. Especially popular dishes include: roasted shrimps with cashew nuts, numerous oyster dishes, boiled fish with greens, eels under a pepper sauce, fish soup “Xiang Yu”, hotpot of mushrooms with crab meat, mushrooms stuffed with sea products, shark fin soup, omelette with octopuses and oysters.

Poultry Meat and Pork Dishes

Pickled chicken with onions, Taiwanese beefsteak (served “hot from the fire” with noodles, a side of grains, and carrots), beef with oyster sauce, chopped poultry meat with sauces from ginkgo nuts, fried noodles with vegetables or meat “chow mein”, egg fried rice “dan chao fan”, fried and boiled pork under a sour-sweet sauce, Chinese noodles with pork “Ma Yi Shang Shu”, fried chicken “Kung Pao”, fried meat with soy sauce and radish balls, salt roasted chicken, meat under a butter sauce, roast chicken “Sun Bey Ji” (served with different sauces in three separate pots), ham with honey, boiled pork with greens “Dong Po Rou”.

Vegetable Dishes

Vegetables are not only served with all dishes, but also pickled, fermented, dried, and salted in a soy sauce.

The most favourite dishes are: dishes from young bamboo sprouts (served boiled both as a side and separate dish), cabbage, potatoes, radish, yams (sweet potatoes), green Batun onion, garlic, tomato, spinach, pepper. 

Flour and Dough Dishes

Flat cakes and flatbreads, noodles and vermicelli,  ravioli and pelmeni, baozi or simply known as bao, bau, humbow, nunu, pow, pau (a small bun from yeast dough, steam-cooked; salty filling may consist of pork mincemeat with cabbage, doufu, cabbage, mushrooms, pumpkin, sweet filling —azuki/adzuki/aduki (anko) bean paste and sesame seeds), wonton/wuntun and húntún (semi-round dumplings, usually put in a noodle soup; seasoned with meat, syangu mushrooms and young bamboo sprouts, may be served fried as a separate dish)

Beverages

In Taiwan they prefer flower and herbal teas to green and black. There is an unusual   “sparkling” or “pearl” tea. It is prepared from regular tea, milk, sugar, kassava or juki (or its starch), infused for half an hour and then served. Of alcoholic drinks, the most preferred include: vodka (infused with various ingredients, has specific taste and flavour), light and strong rice or millet beer, rice wine “Shàoxīng”, “Kaoliang” (sorghum liquor).