A Hong Kong woman shot in the face during a high-profile hostage situation in the Philippines three years ago was on Thursday discharged from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital following successful reconstructive surgery.
In a press conference, Yik Siu-ling (易小玲), 37, thanked staff at the hospital’s Linkou (林口) branch for the “best present for Christmas and the New Year.”
Yik underwent surgery at the hospital on Dec. 18 and is satisfied with the results after more than 30 attempts to repair her lower jaw.
Photo: CNA
She celebrated her “rebirth” with the seemingly simple act of taking a bite of cake prepared by the hospital — something she could not have done before the surgery.
It “feels really good,” she said, to have finally finished this part of her life after dozens of visits to doctors in Hong Kong and South Korea.
With the operation a success, Yik’s doctors will follow her condition for four to six months and, if she recovers well, could perform an operation for a dental implant, lead doctor Wei Fu-chan (魏福全) said.
A team led by Wei, a leading expert in reconstructive microsurgery, spent more than 10 hours rebuilding Yik’s lower jawbone and the skin tissue on her jaw and neck.
He described the surgery as a “10” on a 1 to 10 scale, largely because of damage left by previous unsuccessful operations.
Yik sustained her injury in August 2010 during a high-profile hostage situation in Manila.
She was one of several people injured when former Filipino police officer Rolando del Rosario Mendoza hijacked a bus full of Hong Kong tourists in a stand-off that ended in a shootout with police.
Eight hostages and Mendoza lost their lives, and Yik was left with a fractured lower jaw bone after being hit by a bullet.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS