No response to Taiwan's SARS conference invites

The World Health Organization (WHO) and China have yet to respond to the government's invitations to a seminar on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) to be held in Taipei April 20 and 21, Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) said yesterday.

Chien said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent invitations to both the WHO and Beijing.

Chien said the current global outbreak has made the world come to better understand that the WHO's snub is unfair to the 23 million people of Taiwan.

Even though the WHO has rejected all of the nation's appeals, Chien said the government has so far managed to keep the communicable disease at bay.

"We hope to exchange views and experiences with other countries in tackling the SARS outbreak. Therefore, the ministry has joined the Department of Health in organizing the seminar. We believe that the upcoming forum will contribute to our control of this disease in the future," Chien said.

According to Chien, the ministry has invited health officials and medical experts from 14 countries around the world to attend the seminar. Singapore, Vietnam and several other countries have agreed to send delegates to the meeting, he added.

Meanwhile, the TSU launched a campaign yesterday urging local people to write a letter each to the WHO for the nation's membership bid.

TSU Legislator Chien-Lin Hui-jhun (錢林慧君) said local people should cash in on the SARS outbreak to let the WHO understand that it needs Taiwan's participation to plug any possible holes in its global health and anti-epidemic systems.

In Japan, deputy heads of various central government departments reached a consensus at a meeting at the prime minister's official residence yesterday that Japan should take active steps to help Taiwan join the WHO.

Yoshio Kimura, vice health, labor and welfare minister, said at the meeting that the global outbreak of SARS has underscored the necessity for Taiwan to join the WHO system to effectively prevent and control the spread of any infectious or contagious diseases.

Many other Japanese officials present at the meeting echoed Kimura's view, saying that the SARS outbreak has taken a heavy toll on neighboring countries. As Taiwan is not a WHO member, it has been unable to receive assistance from the world health body.

With a view to improving control of this new and potentially deadly disease, all Japanese deputy ministers came to the conclusion that Japan should step up efforts to help Taiwan join the WHO, as an observer at least.