Mackay Memorial Hospital is preparing to send a second team of volunteer medical professionals on a humanitarian mission to Ukraine in September, where they would offer medical consultations in rural areas.
Tsai Wei-de (蔡維德), director of the hospital’s International Medical Service Center, who led the first team to Ukraine in April, on Saturday said that, during their visit, the second team would sign a memorandum of understanding with St Martin’s Hospital in Mukachevo, a city in western Ukraine.
The seven-member team would offer free consultations at mobile healthcare units in rural areas from Sept. 11 to 19, Tsai said in a telephone interview.
Photo courtesy of MacKay Memorial Hospital
The specific locations would only be disclosed by his Ukrainian counterpart four weeks before the team’s departure, due to the unpredictability of the war zone, he said.
The Taiwan Christian Medical Association (TCMA), in collaboration with Mackay, had just applied for funding from the government to establish a specialized burn treatment center in Ukraine, TCMA physician Chern Herng-der (陳恆德), who also participated in the hospital’s first mission to Ukraine, said on Saturday.
Burns are particularly common during war, Chern said at a TCMA gathering in Taipei.
Reflecting on his experience in Ukraine, Tsai Hsun-tien (蔡循典), an otolaryngologist at Mackay, said that the sound of air sirens during the first mission made him question his own determination and preparedness if a war were to break out in Taiwan.
He said he contemplated what he would bring if he had only three minutes to pack, and what kind of emergency services he could provide in a military conflict.
Tsai Hsun-tien shared his thoughts on what he would say to his loved ones and the encouraging words he would share with his son in such extreme circumstances.
Encouraging young doctors to participate in overseas humanitarian missions, he said that the dignity and aspirations demonstrated by Ukrainians during wartime have been a great inspiration to him.
“It reminded me of why I wanted to become a doctor in the first place,” Tsai Hsun-tien said.
Mackay’s first volunteer team was the first medical support group from Taiwan to provide assistance in Ukraine after the war broke out in February last year.
During the April missions in Mukachevo and Lviv, the Mackay team offered free consultations at mobile healthcare units, assisted local physicians in performing surgical operations at hospitals, conducted educational activities and offered psychological support to severely traumatized people, the hospital said.
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
The Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau audited six hotels in an effort to prevent price gouging ahead of Korean band BTS’ concert tour in the city scheduled for Nov. 19, 21 and 22 this year. The bureau on Friday said that the audits — conducted in response to allegations of unfair pricing posted on social media — found no wrongdoing. These establishments included the local branches of Chateau de Chine, Hotel Nikko, My Humble House, and Grand Hai Lai, it said, adding that the Consumer Protection Commission would have penalized price gougers had the accusations been substantiated. The bureau said the Tourism Development Act
BACK TO WINTER: A strong continental cold air mass would move south on Tuesday next week, bringing colder temperatures to northern and central Taiwan A tropical depression east of the Philippines could soon be upgraded to be the first tropical storm of this year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the next cold air mass is forecast to arrive on Monday next week. CWA forecaster Cheng Jie-ren (鄭傑仁) said the first tropical depression of this year is over waters east of the Philippines, about 1,867km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and could strengthen into Tropical Storm Nokaen by early today. The system is moving slowly from northwest to north, and is expected to remain east of the Philippines with little chance of affecting Taiwan,
The military yesterday said it has located the flight data recorder, or black box, of an F-16V jet that disappeared off eastern Taiwan earlier this month, and it would soon deploy a salvage team to try to retrieve it. Air Force Command Headquarters said that while it had pinned down the location of the black box, it was still searching for the aircraft’s sole pilot, air force Captain Hsin Po-yi (辛柏毅). Without providing details, the air force said it had located the black box days after detecting some intermittent signals and would now engage a team of professionals to retrieve it. The air
RSS