With a view to serving more people, China Medical University Hospital (CMUH) established the “Toxicology and Drug Poisoning Consultation and Testing Center” on February 1, 2008, in which Director Dong-zong Hung with over 20 years of clinical experience acted as a gatekeeper for coping with poisoning-related problems for people in central Taiwan.

 

As the Department of Health Taiwan Antidote Network Central Region Control Center, the CMUH Toxicology Division is also the only drug poisoning consultation and testing center in the central region.

 

The Toxicology Division currently has a director, an associate research fellow, a medical technician, and a research assistant.

 

The center offers a 24-hour drug poisoning consultation service. For example, if children at home accidentally swallow the desiccant or cleaning products, or adult  hypertension or heart disease drugs, parents can call the consultation  center first, in which the staff use their expertise and drug database to provide you with necessary immediate treatment recommendations, helping you to make possible hazard judgments and providing you with necessary advice or medical guidance to reduce the severity of children's poisoning.

 

The functions of the Drug Poisoning Consultation and Testing Center include drug poisoning consultation, drug tests, first-aid treatment and hospitalization. As an emergency and effective liaison center for poisoning incidents, the center has set up a monitoring system network for a variety of local intoxication, such as Chinese herbal medicine, adverse drug reactions, and collective poisoning, to timely reduce damage to all kinds of poisoning events.On August 10, 2010, the division laboratory was certified by the Council of Labor Affairs of the Executive Yuan, and officially became a laboratory for blood lead level (BLL) measurements through labor physical examination. On March 8, 2011, it became the laboratory recognized in terms of BLL measurements by the Taiwan Accreditation Foundation (TAF).

 

The division and school teachers jointly set up a platform for clinical and basic toxicology research.  According to clinical requirements, it has conducted a number of toxicological studies with school teachers and graduate students. An intoxication record registration system and a case follow-up system are established to perform epidemiological and clinical studies.