Former Department of Health director-general and SARS-czar Lee Ming-liang (
Lee met with members of the Taiwan Benevolence Association in Washington on Saturday at a discussion that recapped the nation's ordeals and experiences in its battle to contain SARS between April and June.
Lee, who was appointed by President Chen Shui-bian (
Noting that he does not have confidence in the information on the SARS epidemic and prevention from China, Lee said Taiwan should pronouce Taiwan as "SARS free" or "SARS safe" only after the disease has been completely rooted from China once and for all.
Lee, who is in Washington for a week-long visit, is scheduled to deliver a speech at the UN Correspondents Association on Wednesday on Taiwan's SARS-fighting experience in his capacity as a Tzu Chi University professor and international public-health expert.
During his stay in Washington, Lee will meet with officials from the US Department of Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to convey the government's gratitude to the US for its timely assistance in helping the country contain SARS.
Lee is also scheduled to take part in a symposium on public-health issues to be sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Lee received a standing ovation Saturday when he finished his speech to the Taiwan Benevolence Association members.
He said the people of Taiwan had passed through a difficult and unforgettable ordeal during the most trying two months between May 7 and July 5 after he was appointed as the head of the SARS Prevention and Relief Committee.
He recalled that he made an announcement on May 24 in which he told people that they could resume their normal lives from that day. He said that the announcement was a "big gamble" when the stakes were high -- a time when people were losing faith, the business sector was in the doldrums, shops and restaurants were closed, streets were deserted, and the SARS outbreak was showing little signs of abating.
Lee suggested that people nationwide receive influenza vaccine shots beginning in October to lower the risk of flu transmission as one of the ways of preventing the reemergence of SARS.
Lee also said that he does not think it is a good idea that Taiwan refer to SARS as "Chinese pneumonia."
He said that although calling SARS the "Chinese pneumonia" may help the Taiwanese vent their anger with China for under-reporting the epidemic situation, Taiwanese of Chinese origin living in non-Chinese societies would inevitably suffer in the end.
He recalled how one day when he was on a train from Baltimore at a time when the SARS outbreak in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong was making headlines around the world, a young American girl sitting not far from him stared at him nervously and said to her mother: "Look at that Chinese man, I wonder if he has SARS."
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS