By Chiang Hui-chun and Ko Lin
TAIWAN / St Vincent, (CNA) – Taiwan has signed an agreement with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) with MacKay Memorial Hospital to implement a four-year program designed to help improve the Caribbean nation’s public health emergency preparedness and response capabilities, according to a press release from the hospital on Friday.
There are currently only five tier 2 and 3 hospitals in SVG with emergency departments, all of which face severe shortages in emergency equipment, ambulances as well as qualified emergency personnel, MacKay hospital added.
Tier 2 hospitals have extra facilities like intensive care units and specialist doctors, while tier 3 hospitals have training programs for doctors, rehabilitation and dialysis units.
These shortages seriously impact the emergency response capability of the hospitals, not to mention that they also lack practical training, hence the reason SVG has requested assistance from Taiwan, it added.
According to MacKay, the assistance program will enhance and reinforce the emergency medical care and infectious disease capabilities of SVG’s medical system.
The hospital said it will combine standards from the World Health Organization on post-trauma recovery with its own expertise in relevant fields.
It will also devise comprehensive strategies that integrate policymaking, talent cultivation, medical facility function enhancement, and community public health emergency response awareness, MacKay added.
The program, dubbed the “SVG Public Health Emergency Response System Improvement Plan,” was signed as part of a joint cooperation agreement by Taiwan’s ambassador to SVG Peter Lan (藍夏禮) and SVG minister of health, wellness and the environment St Clair Prince on November 2.
The Republic of China (Taiwan) has maintained diplomatic relations with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines since 1981.
