Taipei: Taiwan on Friday launched a pilot inpatient rehabilitation program for stroke patients, providing up to 180 days of intensive daily care to aid their recovery. According to Focus Taiwan, the program is expected to serve 1,600 to 2,000 patients annually, as stated by the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA), which is implementing the pilot program for rehabilitation wards under the National Health Insurance (NHI) system. President Lai Ching-te attended the launch ceremony at Yuankuo Hospital in Changhua County, one of 10 healthcare facilities participating in the program administered by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Lai announced that the government has allocated NT$300 million (US$9.38 million) outside the regular NHI budget to support the program through the end of 2027. The initiative aims not only to care for those with disabilities resulting from stroke but also to help them regain independence, he emphasized. Under the new program, stroke patients will receive two to five hou rs of integrated rehabilitation therapy and training each day to improve their ability to live independently, NHIA Director-General Chen Lian-yu stated at the event. Chen highlighted that the 180-day coverage period reflects advances in neuroscience showing that stroke patients have significant recovery potential well beyond the traditional three-month "golden window." Although NHI reimbursement does not cap the length of inpatient stays, hospitalizations lasting 180 days are rare because most medical facilities focus on acute treatment rather than long-term rehabilitation, making the new program distinctive, according to the NHIA. The initiative also allows patients to remain at a single hospital for rehabilitation instead of transferring between hospitals or commuting from home for outpatient therapy, as is common under the current system. Another key feature of the program is that participating hospitals must provide at least one occupational or physical therapist for every eight patients, the office sta ted. The 10 regional hospitals participating in the program are located in Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Kaohsiung, and Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi, Yilan, and Hualien counties. Together, these facilities have rehabilitation wards capable of serving 1,600 to 2,000 patients a year, Chen noted. The hospitals were selected in part to help redirect patients from major medical centers to regional facilities, according to Chen Jyh-hong, a deputy convener of the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee at the Presidential Office. Now a super-aged society, with over 20 percent of the population aged 65 or older, Taiwan records between 30,000 and 50,000 new stroke cases each year, according to the NHIA. The number of people requiring long-term care currently stands at about 900,000, or 3.9 percent of the total population, and is projected to reach 2.1 million by 2031, the agency reported.