While the nation's health-care system continues to battle the SARS epidemic, medical professionals have begun preparing for Taiwan's bid to enter the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer.
The WHA is scheduled to begin on May 19 in Geneva. Ahead of that, the World Medical Association (WMA), an international organization representing physicians, will hold its council meeting in Divonne-les-Bains, France, from Thursday to Monday.
Wu Yung-tung (吳運東), president of the Taiwan Medical Association (TMA), a branch of the WMA, who will be attending the WMA's council meeting, said Taiwan stood a better chance of winning WHA observership this year than last.
"Many countries showed compassion and understanding toward Taiwan's SARS outbreak," said Wu, also one of Taiwan's ambassadors-at-large.
According to Wu, the WMA passed a resolution to support Taiwan's bid to enter the WHO last year and its council meeting is considered a warm-up for the WHA. Many of the WMA participants will also be attending the WHA, Wu said.
The US Congress and Japanese Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Chikara Sakaguchi have both expressed support for Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Organization (WHO).
Wu said it would be a progress if European countries, some of which last time opposed Taiwan's bid, kept quiet this time.
Meanwhile, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) appointed former director-general of the Department of Health Lee Ming-liang (李明亮) as an ambassador-at-large yesterday.
Lee, now commander of the department's anti-SARS task force, attended last year's WHA.
"We don't know whether he will be joining this year's WHA or not," said Chi Hsueh-yun (紀雪雲), a department spokeswoman.
According to Chi, Lee has kept good relationships with the US Department of Health and Human Services, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO.
Even though he retired from the DOH last year, Lee has maintained his commitment to promoting the country's bid to join the WHO, Chi said.
The help of Dr. Steve Martin and Dr. Cathy Roth, two WHO experts who have traveled to Taiwan, has made considerable difference in the country's battle to contain the SARS outbreak, Wu said.
While Taiwan's medical professionals are not inferior to the WHO experts, Wu said, the WHO is more experienced in coping with an emerging disease like SARS.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
RSS