The Fourth Mongolian Doctors Trainee Team celebrated the completion of their program at Taiwan's International Medical Training Center (IMTC) yesterday.
Since 2003, the IMTC at the Department of Health's Taipei Hospital has played host to medical professionals from Mongolia and other nations to further hone their skills.
The group of 11 Mongolian doctors was the largest ever to graduate from the six-month training program.
Gonchigsuren Enkhtsetseg, head of the department of neurology at Central Clinical University Hospital in Ulan Bator, said that overseas training programs were a popular choice among Mongolian medical professionals who wished to take their expertise to the next level.
"We have opportunities to go to Japan, [South] Korea, the US and Germany among other countries, as well as Taiwan, if our English is good," Enkhtsetseg said.
The Mongolian contingent communicated with local doctors in English, although some took Chinese lessons during their stay here.
"My field is neurophysiological diagnosis and I learned a lot in Taiwan," Enkhtsetseg said. "The field is different here and in many ways more advanced."
Enkhtsetseg said she had worked with diagnostic equipment in Taiwan that Mongolia has yet to import.
For Mungun-Ulzii, a 25-year-old trainee-doctor, the trip to Taiwan meant more than professional advancement.
"We learned from different physicians and in different hospitals, but the experience is also important because we learned about a different culture," Mungun-Ulzii said.
Batchimeg Migeddorj, the representative of Ulan Bator trade and economic office in Taipei, hoped that the local people also learned something from their visit.
"We hope that by introducing our doctors to Taiwanese, we have changed their perception of `Mongolian doctors,'" Migeddorj said.
The term "Mongolian doctor" in Chinese is a derogatory term referring to a "quack."
The doctors will return home later this month.
"I miss snow, I miss winter, I miss my whole country," Mungun-Ulzii said.
In addition to the doctors from Mongolia, the training center has hosted medical professionals from Brazil, Austria, the US, Papua New Guinea and the Marshall Islands.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear