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.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS