A Taiwanese medical mission carrying out relief work in Paraguay has received widespread acclaim for its humanitarian aid efforts in the South American country, the embassy in Asuncion reported yesterday.
The seven-member medical team, led by Lin Hsi-ting (林希鼎), director of the Orthopedics Department at Cathay General Hospital in Taipei, met on Friday with Paraguayan Vice President Federico Franco and Felix Ayala, superintendent of Paraguay’s National Hospital of Itagua, the embassy said.
The two sides exchanged views on issues such as Taiwanese doctors performing knee replacement surgery for patients there, the Paraguayan hospital’s medical equipment and medical cooperation, it said.
During the meeting, Franco also expressed appreciation for Taiwan’s medical aid to his country and said he was pleased that three Paraguayan doctors have been approved to receive medical training in Taiwan.
He said he hoped that the two countries would continue to cooperate on kidney dialysis, kidney transplants and other medical techniques, and that he would welcome donations of used but still usable medical equipment from Cathay General Hospital for Paraguayan patients, the embassy said.
Ambassador to Paraguay Huang Lien-sheng (黃聯昇) said during the meeting that with the close friendship between the two countries, Taiwan would continue to provide medical assistance to Paraguay and strengthen medical cooperation and exchanges with its South American ally.
After the meeting, Franco held a press conference to introduce the Taiwanese medical team.
As the knee replacement surgery that the medical team recently performed on Paraguayan patients won widespread attention in the country, Huang and Chen Kuo-yi (陳擴憶), a Taiwanese nephrologist living in Paraguay, were invited by Paraguay’s Red Guarani TV station for an interview to introduce the surgery and medical cooperation between the two countries.
In the interview, Chen was asked about the purposes of the team’s trip to the country, the number of Paraguayan patients who had received knee replacement surgery from Taiwanese surgeons and the patients’ recovery after the surgery.
Chen said this was the second time the International Cooperation and Development Fund — the government’s foreign aid arm — has organized a medical team providing free knee replacement surgery in Paraguay, following a trip in October.
This time, the group has performed surgery on 15 patients, he said, adding that all are recovering well.
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