About 100 doctors from the US and Canada on Tuesday joined a video conference with disease-control experts from Taoyuan’s Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital to learn about Taiwan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, after officials and doctors from Latin America and Caribbean allies met with Taiwanese doctors in a similar way on Monday.
Hospital vice superintendent Lai Chyong-huey (賴瓊慧) yesterday said in a statement that Padmini Murthy of the Medical Women’s International Association reached out to the hospital hoping to gain a better understanding of the response to COVID-19 by Taiwan’s hospitals and government.
During the teleconference, which lasted about 90 minutes, doctors from 52 hospitals, private clinics and other institutions in the US and Canada exchanged their experiences in fighting the pandemic and learned from Taiwanese experts, Lai said.
The hospital’s medical team shared the disease-prevention measures the government has implemented, including a ban on mask exports, border controls and the screening and isolation of at-risk individuals from before Wuhan, China — the origin of the outbreak — went into lockdown to now, she said.
The hospital said that it shared its patient flow design — its separation of people with different levels of risk for infection into a safe “green zone” and a “red zone” for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases.
The US and Canadian doctors commended the Taiwanese experts for wearing masks during the teleconference and shared their experiences with COVID-19 cases, including clinical features, the selection of medications and the amount of time the coronavirus is detected in patients’ systems after infection, it said.
As the situation in the US continues to develop, the hospital hopes that the teleconference gave the US and Canadian doctors lessons from Taiwan’s valuable experience, Lai said, adding that it also looks forward to learning from their experiences treating patients.
In related news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said in a statement that it has partnered with local hospitals to share their experiences in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic with the nation’s diplomatic allies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The ministry said that it has partnered with Chi Mei Medical Center, Cathay General Hospital, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, National Taiwan University Hospital and Mackay Memorial Hospital for the initiative.
Chi Mei Medical Center chief medical deputy superintendent Lin Hung-Jung (林宏榮) on Monday led a team of medical experts in holding a teleconference with senior health officials and healthcare workers in Belize, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, it said.
Cathay General Hospital on March 20 held a conference on COVID-19 prevention with Paraguayan health officials, it added.
Far Eastern Memorial Hospital was yesterday scheduled to hold a teleconference to share Taiwan’s COVID-19 experience and response with health officials in Nicaragua, the ministry said.
Taiwan values global public health and prevention efforts, and hopes to work with the international community to halt the spread of COVID-19, among other global health issues, it said.
“Taiwan can help and Taiwan is helping,” the ministry said.
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