At the invitation of the International Hospital Federation (IHF), Taiwan will play host to the 2006 International Hospital Federation Asian Pacific Regional Conference next week.
The IHF conference is said to be the biggest non-governmental global conference on medical and health-related affairs, next to that of the WHO. The conference will be held at the Taipei International Convention Center from Sunday to Wednesday.
So far 747 representatives from hospitals in 20 different countries have confirmed their attendance at the biennial event the Taiwan Hospital Association announced yesterday.
More than 1,000 local doctors or related medical personnel will also attend.
"It will be the second time we have organized this kind of international conference. The first time was 20 years ago," said Taiwan Hospital Association Chairman Wu Der-lang (
Wu said the association applied to host the conference four years ago but lost out to Hong Kong.
"This year, we did not file an application but the federation invited us to do so. It is truly an honor," Wu said.
Top-ranking hospital officials will attend next week's event to discuss problems faced by health systems in different countries. In addition, the contribution that Taiwan can make internationally to health issues will be discussed.
Forty-three domestic medical papers prepared by 23 local doctors and 53 medical papers from 30 foreign doctors will also be presented at the conference.
Wu said that Taiwan's cardiology development and research are internationally renowned and that young doctors from Canada, the US, the UK and Russia visited Taiwan every year to engage in research and study in this field.
"We shall take advantage of the conference to let more foreign friends know how well we can do and what we can contribute to internationally," Wu said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail