A second team of volunteer medical professionals from Taipei’s Mackay Memorial Hospital left for Ukraine yesterday to help establish mobile healthcare units and give tutorials on the operation of ultrasonic devices.
The seven-member team would spend a total of 11 days in the Ukrainian cities of Cherkasy and Lviv, the hospital said in a statement.
Tsai Wei-de (蔡維德), the team’s leader and director of the hospital’s International Medical Service Center, on Saturday said that while it would “be a lie to pretend I am not worried,” he was convinced the humanitarian benefits of the mission made it worthwhile.
Photo: CNA
The team, which includes specialists in family and disaster medicine as well as several nurses, would aim to develop sustainable healthcare services for Ukrainians, Tsai said.
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” said Tsai, who has carried out similar missions to about 50 countries during his 20 years of service at Mackay Memorial Hospital.
The humanitarian team sent in April from the hospital was the first medical aid support group from Taiwan to provide assistance in Ukraine since the conflict erupted last year.
During their April missions in Mukachevo and Lviv, the earlier team provided free consultations at mobile healthcare units, assisted local surgeons in the operating room, conducted educational activities and offered psychological support to individuals affected by severe trauma, the hospital said.
Tsai said he was most impressed with local people’s bond with Taiwan, noting an elderly resident in rural Ukraine knew that Taiwan was independent from China.
Tsai added that Ukraine was the first country out of the 50 he had visited on medical missions where no one had mistaken Taiwan for Thailand.
There were also young Ukrainians who used to study in Taiwan wearing self-made vests that read “Team Taiwan in Ukraine” and helping people, which Tsai said he was very moved by.
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