TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Taiwan. 

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, more than 10,000 women suffer from breast cancer every year in Taiwan. The Health Promotion Agency (HPA) sponsors publicly funded breast cancer screening to facilitate early detection, which can lead to a five-year survival rate reaching more than 90%. 

However, cancer treatments such as chemotherapy may affect the fertility of young patients. Tsai Wei-yi (蔡維誼), deputy director of the HPA Maternal and Child Health Group said current government infertility subsidies do not include egg freezing for breast cancer patients, and added such subsidies should be made available in line with international practices, per UDN.

Tsai admitted that not all breast cancer patients are suitable candidates for egg freezing.  More details of the subsidy program can be discussed in the future as to who should qualify for the program.

Huang Min-chao (黃閔照), a physician at Mackay Hospital Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, agreed that patients with terminal cancer or those with relatively low cancer cure rates may not be suitable for inclusion in the egg freezing subsidy program. However, Huang said patients with early-stage breast cancer detection such as those under 40 years old should consider egg freezing if they have future fertility concerns. 

Wu Cheng-hsuan (吳成玄), deputy director of Dianthus Medical Clinic Fertility Department, said the practice of egg freezing has increased amongst young breast cancer patients. However, not all young patients can afford the cost.

Wu said he has seen many cases where chemotherapy has led ovaries to fail and eggs were rendered unusable. He hoped that a subsidy program would give young women a better chance to preserve their fertility as they battle cancer.