Taiwan hosted a videoconference with eight allies and like-minded partners in the Caribbean and Central America April 15 to share the country’s expertise and experience combating coronavirus, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Staffers from Taipei City-based National Taiwan University Hospital led by Dr. Yu Chong-jen, vice superintendent at NTUH, co-organized the event alongside the Executive Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America and the Dominican Republic, with assistance provided by the MOFA and Central American Integration System (SICA).
The conference focused on areas such as acute and critical care, emergency services response, extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation treatment and isolation ward establishment. A total of 80 senior health officials and medical personnel were in attendance representing the country’s allies Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, as well as like-minded partners Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador and Panama.
These included SICA Secretary General Vinicio Cerezo; Guatemala’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Pedro Brolo and Minister of Health Hugo Monroy; and Nicaragua’s Secretary General of the Ministry of Health Carlos Saenz.
Cerezo thanked Taiwan for its support helping the region manage the COVID-19 pandemic. NTUH’s know-how is especially valuable in this difficult time, he added.
The event is the latest in a series of videoconferences held by Taiwan’s medical facilities to share their expertise with counterparts in the Caribbean and Central and South America under the backing of the MOFA and Taipei-based International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF), the country’s foremost foreign aid organization. Those involved include Cathay General Hospital, MacKay Memorial Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital in the capital; New Taipei City-based Far Eastern Memorial Hospital; and Tainan City-headquartered Chi Mei Medical Center in southern Taiwan.
According to the MOFA, efforts by Taiwan’s medical institutions to promote international public health collaboration show that Taiwan Can Help realize the World Health Organization’s goal of Health For All. (YCH-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw