Sat, Jun 20, 2009 page4

• Afghan nurses benefit from training at Tri-Service

  • STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
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  A group of Afghan nurses attending a nursing training program in Taiwan said recently that they will be able to provide better care for patients at home after learning advanced nursing skills, standardized systems and modern facilities in Taiwan.

  Hossin Dad, Hakima Sadat and Abdul Amid are three of the 10 nurses who are being trained at Taipei’s Tri-Service General Hospital.

  “We hope that by coming to Taiwan, we can gain more knowledge, skills and experience and apply what we learn to help our people,” said Hossin, a pediatric nurse and the group’s leader.

  

  Afghan nurse Hossin Dad, second left, poses with other nurses at Taipei’s Tri-Service General Hospital yesterday.

  PHOTO: CNA

  Despite the steady deterioration of Afghanistan’s medical infrastructure, the nurses believe their pioneering mission to Taiwan is of great importance for their country.

  “We are being trained for the future,” Hossin said. “Although we don’t have modern equipment or standardized nursing administration at the moment, we are readying ourselves for a time when these facilities will be available.”

  The training program was initiated by Sima Samar, founder of Afghanistan’s non-profit Shuhada Organization, which operates clinics and hospitals in Afghanistan and Pakistan dedicated to the provision of health care to Afghan women and girls.

  After winning the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy’s (TFD’s) Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award last December, Samar wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ NGO Affairs Committee expressing the hope that NGOs could provide help to improve Afghanistan’s medical environment.

  The three-month nursing training program was then launched by the Taiwan Nurses Association in collaboration with the foreign ministry, the Department of Health and the government-funded TFD.

  The nurses arrived in Taiwan on June 5 and started their clinical training at the Tri-Service General hospital on June 10, learning about maternal and child health, wound care, emergency medical treatment, community health care and nursing administration.

  Speaking about the poor medical situation in Afghanistan, pediatric nurse Abdul said his hospital does not have enough beds, nurses, doctors, modern equipment or a standard system for patient-care and that they sometimes even have to put four children in one bed.

  “I hope the Taiwanese government can help our country by allowing more doctors and nurses to receive training here,” Abdul said. “The program is a pioneering start for bilateral medical cooperation.”

  Hakima, who works as a midwife and nurse in obstetrics and gynecology, said that over the past week, the Tri-Service General Hospital has offered a lot of different training and courses according to their specific fields and that she felt she gained a lot of additional knowledge about patient care.

  Weng Min-hsueh (翁敏雪), a supervisor of the hospital’s Department of Nursing said the hospital has tailored training courses in various medical fields such as surgery, anesthesiology and pediatrics specifically for the Afghan nurses while also teaching them how to use the Internet and computers to do work-related research.

  They will also benefit from the hospital’s resources for treating war injuries, common in Afghanistan as a result of the decades of conflict there, she said.

  Afghanistan has suffered continuous civil war, in addition to foreign intervention, since the 1970s, and Hossin, Abdul and Hakima all have their own stories about life in their war-torn homeland.

  Abdul, who comes from Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan, said that the Taliban regime destroyed his hometown and that he lost everything, including his cousin, during the conflict.

  However, he said he has not told his five children about his tragic past because he hopes that Afghanistan will achieve peace and does not want them to carry a burden of hatred.

  Speaking about their impressions of Taiwan, the three nurses said with one voice that before coming to the country, they had no idea what Taiwan was like, apart from its geographic location on the map and seeing Taipei 101 on television.

  After spending one week in Taipei, they were amazed at how advanced and modern the city is and have taken time out of their busy training program to look around and see the sights.

  Having visited places such as Taipei 101, Guandu Temple, Taipei City Zoo, the Shilin night market and the Grand Hotel, Hakima said she was particularly impressed by a large supermarket they visited, saying that there was nothing like that in her hometown.

  Hossin said he was deeply touched by the hospitality of the Taiwanese people, who have treated him like a true friend.

  “We will bring back to our country not only medical skills and experience, but also many beautiful pictures and precious memories,” Abdul said.
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