A medical team from Kaohsiung’s Chang Gung Memorial Hospital has recently returned from a two-week humanitarian mission to diplomatic ally Guatemala. The 17-member team treated 3,000 people, pulling 209 teeth and performing six cleft lip and palate operations on children. It was also agreed to send 20 Guatemalan medical personnel to Taiwan every year to receive training.
Dr Chen Tsao-long, the mission leader, said this was the largest international task force the hospital had ever assembled and that they took enough personnel, equipment and medicine with them to set up an entire hospital.
The security situation in Guatemala has deteriorated of late meaning guns are easy to come by, robberies are up and reports of kidnappings are all too common. The Guatemalan government therefore deployed an armed police escort to accompany the medics in order to ensure their safety.
photo: Chen Chao-lung
自由時報記者方志賢
One member of the team said that the local medical facilities were very basic, and even the anesthesia machine was broken. They managed to borrow a smaller one and in the end they successfully carried out six operations on children over a three-day period.
Guatemala doesn’t have many cancer patients so the team’s oncologist doubled as a family doctor treating patients from three months old to 80 years old. The Guatemalan president and first lady received the medical team and a memorandum of understanding promoting closer medical ties between the countries was signed.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
PHOTO: CHEN CHAO-LUNG
照片：自由時報記者陳肇隆
高雄長庚醫院醫療團隊結束兩週友邦瓜地馬拉人道醫療，十七人的醫療團服務了三千人次。他們拔了兩百零九顆牙，為六名病童做了唇顎裂手術，未來每年還提供二十名瓜國醫護人員來台受訓。
高雄長庚行動醫療團隊領軍的院長陳肇隆表示，這次國際醫療是高雄長庚歷年組團出國醫療服務規模最大一次，參加人員及攜帶器材與藥品足以組成一所醫院。
當地治安惡化、槍枝氾濫，搶案、綁票案頻傳，為確保醫療團成員人身安全，瓜國政府都派出警車及武警持槍隨行保護。
團裡一位成員說，當地醫療儀器簡陋，連麻醉機也故障，最後借來小型麻醉機，手術才順利進行，實際手術約三天，成功為六名病童完成手術。
瓜國癌症患者很少，腫瘤科的醫師充當家醫科，義診對象從三個月小嬰兒到八十歲老人全看了。義診期間，瓜國副總統及第一夫人分別接見醫療團，雙方也簽署合作備忘錄，加強兩國醫療合作。
（自由時報記者方志賢）
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