Taiwan reiterated its regret that the World Health Organization (WHO) misunderstood the country's handling of the SARS epidemic, urging it to remove Taiwan from its travel warning advisory list sooner rather than later.
"We have done better a job than some other countries. However, we have been asked to meet a much stricter standard," Department of Health (DOH) Director-General Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said at a news conference yesterday.
"We are not weak. Taiwan has been `quarantined' from the WHO for 20 years and [our health-care system] has grown to become a model," he said.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen said Taiwan has furnished the WHO with more information about the country's SARS situation in the hope that the world health watchdog lift its warning against non-essential travel to the country.
The WHO rejected Taiwan's previous application for removal from its travel advisory list. It asked the country to check whether the six suspected SARS cases reported in the US, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Germany and Brazil between March and early June were acquired in Taiwan.
"We have toiled to collect sufficient data to prove that Taiwan has not exported any SARS cases," Chen said, adding that all six probable cases the WHO was investigating as coming from Taiwan tested negative for SARS.
Chen said Taiwan will not be daunted by the setback and will even redouble efforts to meet the WHO's relatively stringent requirements for removal from its travel advisory list, even though the nation has been kept from participation in the world health body.
Moreover, Chen said, Taiwan must remain on the alert against the possibility of SARS-positive individuals entering the country and starting a new line of transmission.
Saying that an 82-year-old veteran showed SARS-like symptoms after returning from a visit to the central Chinese province of Hunan earlier this week, Chen stressed that it is important to keep certain quarantine measures for incoming passengers.
He used the example to imply that the WHO may wish to consider looking into whether the disease has spread to other regions of China.
Meanwhile, Chen also said that Taiwan's four representatives, who have been invited by the WHO to attend an international seminar on SARS, will participate in the activity as representatives of a state.
"Su Yi-jen (蘇益仁), director-general of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) under the DOH was addressed with his formal, official title in the WHO invitation to the seminar to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from June 17 to 18," Chen said.
Chen said the WHO has also invited three Taiwan scholars -- Chen Pei-che (陳培哲), director of the Hepatitis Research Center of National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH), Chang Shang-chun (張上淳), director of the Infectious Disease Department at NTUH, and Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an associate research fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Academia Sinica -- to attend the seminar.
According to DOH officials, the WHO will make special arrangements to let Su and other Taiwan participants discuss SARS issues with delegates from other countries.
The Taiwan delegates will leave for Kuala Lumpur on Sunday and are scheduled to return next Thursday.
As to the latest development of the government's efforts to control the spread of SARS, another medical professional yesterday succumbed to the illness.
Tsai Chiao-miao (
Later she was transferred to Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou (
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS