Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) yesterday said he has prepared speaking notes for next month’s World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, even though he might be relegated to the event’s sidelines if Taiwan is not invited for a third consecutive year.
Taiwan obtained an invitation to attend the annual WHA meeting as an observer from 2009 to 2016, but has not received an invitation due to Chinese pressure since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in 2016.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily last month reported that WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier, when asked about the possibility of inviting Taiwan this year, said that without “cross-strait understanding” an invitation would not be forthcoming.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
At a Legislative Yuan committee meeting yesterday, Chen said that “several like-minded countries have expressed strong support for us to attend the WHA this year.”
“The support is helpful, but an invitation might still be a ways off,” he said. “We will have to keep working on it.”
Chen said that since the theme of World Health Day this year is “Universal Health Coverage,” he prepared a speech that stresses the importance of health for all.
A main point would be that “Taiwan needs the WHA and the WHA needs Taiwan,” he added.
The government would continue to work toward an invitation, Chen said, adding that if Taiwan was not invited by the eve of the meeting, he would lead a delegation to Geneva to deliver a petition expressing Taiwan’s position.
With non-governmental organizations from Taiwan, the delegation would speak up for the nation’s sovereignty, Chen said.
Legislators asked Chen to comment on a decision last week by the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to charge two nurses with homicide through professional negligence after 15 people died in a blaze at a hospice center and nursing home of a New Taipei City hospital in August last year.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ching-min (陳靜敏) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said that blaming the nurses for allowing patients’ families to bring in unapproved electrical appliances, while they were busy with their duties, seemed unreasonable.
Chen Shih-chung said he agreed that asking nurses to perform fire prevention on top of their regular duties was unreasonable, and the ministry would help the nurses through the judicial process.
Chen added that he agreed with the lawmakers’ request that the ministry clarify nurses’ duties within a month.
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