Less than a week after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for its humanitarian medical services, a three-member delegation from Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) arrived in Taiwan yesterday to provide psychological counseling to survivors of the 921 earthquake.
The Paris-based MSF sent the delegation from its branch in Japan to aid local doctors in several towns, according to officials from the Kaohsiung city government, which is sponsoring the visit.
Dominique Leguiller, head of MSF's operations in Japan, was accompanied by two doctors who were involved in trauma counselling following the 1995 Kobe earthquake.
PHOTO: TONY K. YAO, LIBERTY TIMES
More MSF doctors are expected to arrive in the next few days, Kaohsiung city officials said.
Speaking to reporters at CKS International Airport, Leguiller said that while the group did not plan to offer material assistance since Taiwan is a relatively wealthy country, the delegation hoped to share its experiences with its Taiwanese counterparts.
The delegation will go to the hard-hit towns of Chungliao, Puli, Chushan and Yuchi in Nantou County and Tungshih in Taichung County.
In addition to visiting quake-stricken areas during its five-day visit, the MSF delegation will hold a news conference in Taipei today. On Friday, the group will meet with medical professionals in Kaoh-siung.
Yang Meng-tze (
Yang said the visit was intended to use the group's search-and-rescue expertise to benefit 921 earthquake victims.
The Taiwan Medical Professionals' Alliance (
"Following our first contact with MSF last March, we have been working toward cooperating with them in order to break through the current constraints Taiwanese medical associations suffer in contributing medical efforts for international communities in need," said president of the alliance Deng Jou-fang (鄧昭芳).
MSF, an international group of medical volunteers, was founded by a group of French doctors who were working as volunteers for the Red Cross in Nigeria in 1971.
The MSF mission is to provide immediate medical care to populations in danger, regardless of race, class or political affiliation. In the last few years, the group has sent missions to North Korea, Rwanda, Afghanistan and Bosnia.
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