SARS highlights Taiwan's need to join WHO: experts
Published: March 28, 2003
Source: Taiwan News
The Chilean ex-president of the World Medical Association said on Thursday that he will try to convince Latin American countries to support Taiwan's bid for observer status in the World Health Organization by May 2004.
Dr. Enrique Accorsi on Thursday explained the case he would make, not only in Latin America but also in Europe and Asia. "Taiwan should not be ignored and deprived of the help of the WHO. Disease is the greatest democracy in the world because every human being can fall ill, and it is a big mistake for the WHO to exclude and ignore Taiwan," he said.
Taiwan's international political isolation should not disqualify Taiwan from the world health body, Accorsi said.
"Health and politics are separate issues," commented the former head of the Chilean Medical Association. "The world is a small village, and with the speed of international transportation, illness can spread very quickly. Taiwan's first priority should be to enter the WHO as an observer country so it can gain the same benefits as a member country."
Accorsi has spoken on Taiwan's behalf in the past, and said he hoped this year's lobbying effort would meet with success.
So do local health care professionals.
With the spread of SARS alarming the world, Taiwan's exclusion from the world body has already hampered the island's public health care system, according to Lee Tzu-yao of National Taiwan University Hospital.
"As soon as we discovered a SARS case in Taiwan, our health authorities immediately reported it to the WHO, but China did not take any initiative even though the local cases originated in China," Lee said.
Wu Yung-tung, president of the Taiwan Medical Association, added that the current situation gives the misleading impression that Taiwan's health care is China's responsibility, when China is actually shirking its responsibility to patients everywhere.
"At last year's World Health Assembly, the Chinese representative said that the health of Taiwan's 23 million people was under Beijing's control. My blood boiled when I heard this. What nonsense," Wu said.
"If China's government really cared about the SARS epidemic, then it should have reported the cases to the WHO and quarantined the patients, rather than holding back the information," Wu asserted.
The chairman of the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan, Wu Shuh-min, said Taiwan's exclusion from the body flies in the face of the WHO charter, which states, "The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition."
Since health care is a fundamental right of every human being rather than of a country, Taiwan should be allowed WHO membership, Wu Shuh-min said.
And the WHO should be held accountable if the SARS epidemic becomes more serious in Taiwan, according to Chang Chin-un, president of the Taiwan Hospital Association.
Arguing that the WHO is violating its own principles and has been unwilling to take concrete actions to help battle the SARS virus, Chang said, "If the epidemic spreads further in Taiwan, they (the WHO) shall be responsible."
Wu Shuh-min complained that China's obstructionism in blocking Taiwan's entry to the world body extends to apolitical organizations.
"Non-governmental organizations are blocked by China when they want to support Taiwan's membership bid. We tried to get Medecins Sans Frontieres involved a few years ago, but nothing came of it because they didn't want to be bothered by the Chinese authorities," he said.
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