A Taiwan medical team will leave today for a remote Peruvian village deep in the Amazon to offer free medical services.
Liu Chi-chun (
The trip is being described as giving "voluntary medical services to a village without roads," and will be a challenge and a whole new experience for team members, Liu added.
The Taiwan group will also do academic research in the Amazon by collecting hematological specimens to establish a database of tropical diseases.
The team of more than 40 individuals will be composed of medical doctors from Taiwan's major hospitals, researchers from academic institutions, medical school students and volunteers.
According to Liu, to reach the Peruvian village of Huam Pami the team must first make an 11-hour car trip from Lima to Chicliyo, an ancient city in the country's north, which will take them over the Antilles -- at an altitude of over 3,000m -- to reach Bagua, a traditional village along the Amazon, before continuing by jeep to Imaza, another small village.
A 10-hour boat ride will then take the team to Huam Pami. Liu said there are around 1,000 people living in the village and nearby forests. When the villagers get sick, they usually have to take a canoe. If the river is too swollen and dangerous, they have to walk for two or three days to receive medical treatment.
Liu said that the team will also invite people from nearby villages to come for medical attention, or the team may send medical personnel by boat to treat them. The medical team is scheduled to return to Taiwan on Sept. 1.
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