Reported by Hsiao Bai-Xie and Deng Quei-feng
Chiang Been-Huang, the Minister of the MOHW, gave a speech in the 2015 World Health Assembly (WHA) on the 20th. In his speech, Chiang mentioned that he hoped Taiwan could be given more opportunities to take part in WHO’s activities, such as the rescue and reconstruction operation in Nepal.
The theme of this year’s WHA is “To build a flexible and responsive healthcare system”. Taiwan has attended the WHA for 7 times in a row as an observer and under the name of “Chinese Taipei”.
Chiang Been-Huang mentioned in his speech that he hoped that Taiwan could be given more opportunities to contribute to the world. He also talked about that the NHI coverage rate in Taiwan is 99.8%; and he used the SARS event as example to illustrate the importance of the NHI in supporting the healthcare system.
During the WHA period, Chiang Been-Huang and Lee Bin, representing the health authorities in Taiwan and China respectively, had a meeting to talk about the implementation of the cross-strait “Food Safety Agreement” and the “Mutual Assistance in Health and Hygiene Agreement”. Both sides reached a consensus that the implementation of those agreements will not be affected by other factors, such as politics.
Chiang Been-Huang thanked Ms. Burwell, the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the US, for the support for Taiwan’s participating in the WHO’s activities. Chiang hoped the US would continue to support Taiwan in removing the obstacles in the way of Taiwan trying to be involved in the WHO’s activities.
【2015-05-21/ United Daily News】
