中華民國外交部

St. Lucia Prime Minister Thanks Taiwan's Medical Volunteers (Embassy of the Republic of China(Taiwan), St. Lucia)

Honourable Stephenson King, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, received the six members of the volunteer medical group led by its coordinator Dr. Nina Kao from Changhua Christian Hospital, Republic of China (Taiwan) on 21st January. The group arrived on 16th January to serve at St. Jude Hospital for three weeks. Prime Minister King warmly welcomed their visit and expressed his heartfelt appreciation for their volunteer works and expertise. He said the assistance from Taiwan was much needed as most of the overseas volunteers had cancelled their trips after a fire burnt down the hospital in September last year. Prime Minister King further commended that the master plan of the new St. Jude Hospital, designed by a Taiwanese company, had been generally accepted. The plan was currently at its final fine-tuning stage and the reconstruction work would start very soon.
This delegation was the second one in a row, but the first in 2010. The members included Dr. Wei-shiu Chen (Obs/Gyn), Dr. Yu-chun Lin (Orthopedics/ER), Dr. Ya-ling Lee (Internal Medicine), Mr. Hung-ju Tsai (Emergency Nurse Supervisor), Miss Wen-ling Tsao (Operation Room Nurse), and Mr. Chung-min Yeh (Senior Pathological Technician). They were accompanied by their coordinator Dr. Nina Kao, His Excellency Ambassador Tom Chou, Counselor Mr. Allen Lou, and Third Secretary Ms. Susana Huang from the Embassy.
Ambassador Tom Chou expressed his appreciation to the Prime Minister for receiving the delegation amidst his extremely tight schedule, and highlighted that the volunteers came to St. Lucia to share their expertise with local counterparts and serve the needed. Since Changhua Christian Hospital signed the Twinning Agreement with St. Jude Hospital on 8th July, 2009, both medical institutions have worked reciprocally in exchanges of staff for professional training programmes. To date, seven staff members in two groups from St. Jude Hospital have finished the three-month training program at Changhua Christian Hospital in Taiwan, and two volunteer medical groups from Taiwan have visited St Lucia. Prime Minister King's hospitality and warm remarks on the volunteers' efforts will encourage more medical volunteers from Taiwan to visit St Lucia, and hence help strengthen the already close relationship between Saint Lucia and Taiwan in the areas of health and medical cooperation.
The coordinator of the group, Dr. Nina Kao, stressed that the working experiences at the St. Jude Hospital not only broaden the vision and knowledge of these volunteers, but also become their valuable asset when providing medical assistance to the developing countries in the future.
Changhua Christian Hospital in central Taiwan is a 1600-bed medical center and a teaching hospital, employing over 3,800 people and receiving approximately 5,000 patients daily. According to the Agreement, both medical institutions agree to undertake a comprehensive exchange of staff and information on the health sector, to provide international volunteers, and to facilitate the increase in knowledge of health care professionals through seminars and professional trainings on the basis of equality and reciprocity.

Photos:
1.Prime Minister King receives the volunteer medical group from the Changhua Christian Hospital, Taiwan. (Dr. Nina Kao, first from the left; Prime Minister King, first from the right; and Amb. Chou, second from the right)
2. Prime Minister King poses for a photo with the volunteer medical group from the Changhua Christian Hospital, Taiwan.
3. (First row, from the left) Dr. Ya-ling Lee, Dr. Wei-shiu Chen, Miss Wen-ling Tsao, (second row, from the left) Amb. Chou, Prime Minister King, Dr. Nina Kao, Dr. Yu-chun Lin, (third row, from the left) Mr. Chung-min Yeh, Mr. Allen Lou and Mr. Hung-ju Tsai take a group picture.