SARS team ready for WHO meet

Taiwan's delegation to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Conference on SARS arrived in Malaysia yesterday, determined to share the nation's knowledge of the epidemic and maintain the country's status.

Su Ih-jen (蘇益仁), director of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), headed the delegation of health officials and academics. Su and Ho Mei-shang(何美鄉), an Academia Sinica researcher, were both invited by the WHO to speak at the conference.

Upon arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Su showed reporters two letters from the WHO inviting him to join the conference. One was an e-mail from the organization and the other an invitation on paper.

While nothing in the e-mail indicated that Taiwan was part of China, Su covered with his fingers several words written behind "Taiwan" at the top of the paper-based invitation.

When asked by reporters whether the covered words referred to China, Su answered: "Let's just cover up these words."

In a press conference on Saturday introducing the delegation to the SARS conference, Su said Taiwan's invited speakers received the WHO's paper-based invitations prior to the e-mail invites.

Su said Saturday that the WHO sent the e-mails to Taiwan's invited speakers because the paper-based cards, which indicated that Taiwan is part of China, were unacceptable.

"Our goal is very clear. We must enter the WHO. However, we need to pave the way to the goal with patience. Now we have made a big stride forward," Su said.

He called the WHO's invitation a "breakthrough" in the country's bid to enter the organization.

Su, however, expressed regret that two of Taiwan's invited speakers could not attend the conference because of the WHO's health regulations.

Chang Shang-chwen (張上淳) and Chen Pei-jer (陳培哲), both doctors from National Taiwan University Hospital, could not join the conference because they have been handling SARS patients.

The two-day conference will kick off tomorrow at Malaysia's Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel, close to Kuala Lumpur.

Su said he will be attending a closed-door meeting with the conference's invited participants on Wednesday morning.

A wide range of SARS-related issues will be brought up during Wednesday's closed-door meeting and Su will present a 10-minute report on response coordination and surveillance.

Ho, though also an invited speaker, said the WHO forgot to arrange a time for her to report during the closed-door session. Ho will be joining another group discussing epidemiological modeling.

Ho said she would negotiate with the WHO to obtain an opportunity to present her paper during the closed-door meeting.

Meanwhile, Wayne Wu (吳文雅), representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia (TECOM), who received Taiwan's delegation yesterday, said no representative office officials will be able to attend the conference due to a lack of seats.

"We asked the Malaysian government whether it is possible for it to arrange several seats for TECOM officials to join the conference, but the Malaysian government said it would be up to the WHO," Wu said.

PFP Legislator Kao Ming-chien (高明見), the fifth Taiwanese expert invited by the WHO to join the conference, will arrive in Malaysia today.

The Department of Health did not recommend to the WHO that Kao join the conference. Cabinet Secretary-General Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) said Kao was not a member of the government's delegation to the conference.