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Taiwan's Medical NGOs: An Important Link in World Health
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A child, suffering from congenital heart disease, hugs a package of materials donated by the Tzu Chi Foundation in El Salvador where the hardship of poverty has recently been intensified by an earthquake. (Courtesy of the Tzu Chi Foundation) |
Four decades ago, Taiwan was an undeveloped area, which received generous economic and medical assistance from advanced countries. Now that Taiwan is prosperous and democratic, it is ready to return the generosity of the international community through both government and non-government organizations, under the principle that medical care knows no boundary.
Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps
Dr. Chi-chun Liu, founder and president of Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps (TRMPC), believes that TRMPC, after years of practical experiences in voluntary medical care services, is ready to repay the international community. "Our goal is to be on the spot within 24 hours, when there is a need for medical assistance in any distant part of the world,?says Dr. Liu.
Just one of six international medical missions to the Third World was TRMPC's medical mission to Liberia in February 2001. Liberia had recently suffered the devastation of civil war. Power and water supplies were disrupted and food and other commodities were in short supply. In some areas, no medical doctors had been available for ten years.
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| Volunteers from the Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps (TRMPC) travel to Liberia to provide medical services. (Courtesy of the TRMPC) |
The hardship and risks TRMPC encountered in Liberia were unimaginable; however, the team managed to treat more than 3,000 patients in two weeks. The Liberian authorities took the medical assistance from Taiwan seriously. They even broadcast the visit and mission of TRMPC before its arrival across the country.
"On the two visits to Liberia," says Dr. Liu, "patients lined up in long queues; some even walked through mountains for five days to reach the medical station. Practically every person except the newborns had parasites. A child of one year developed hydrocephalus after the infection of toxoplasma. Many had developed liver cirrhosis, as a result of excessive filariasis eggs in their livers. Some became blind after the infection of onchocerciasis."
Laboratory testing suggested that around 15 percent of the urban residents of Liberia were infected with HIV. The World Health Organization's country office in Liberia has been promoting AIDS prevention and control programs, and to support the program TRMPC also helped the local government educate the public on the prevention and control of AIDS.
In August 2000, after 40 hours of travel by air, TRMPC arrived in Santa Cruz Province of Bolivia for a 17-day medical care mission. It was the first time that an Asian medical team stepped in this country. Santa Cruz is an isolated, poor, and underdeveloped area. Pre-marital sex is common, and no contraceptive measures are taken. Education against HIV infection is thus most important.
The ultra-sound scanner brought along by TRMPC was instrumental in screening for breast cancer, gallstones, and liver cirrhosis that could not be detected earlier. The blood sugar tester and the clinical biochemical analyzer were most useful for laboratory testing of the patients?physical conditions. Specimen collection for screening was also an important task of the visit. Bolivia, like South America as a whole, has an epidemic of Chagas disease caused by parasite Trypanosoma cruzi in human blood. Some 1,000 specimens were collected for analysis.
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| In Liberia, parents will often bring their sick children to medical stations. (Courtesy of the TRMPC) |
The Bolivians found hope from Taiwan's medical team. The local people were thoroughly impressed by the love and enthusiasm of the people of Taiwan. The appreciation of the local people has always been an encouragement for TRMPC in their overseas medical services.
TRMPC rushed to Benkulu Province of Sumatra, Indonesia, for emergency medical care, when a devastating earthquake struck the province in June 2000. Members of such international organizations as MSF, Red Cross, and UNHCR praised the activities of TRMPC.
In March 2000, TRMPC was in Dharamsala, capital of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India, to provide medical care and health education. TRMPC was the first medical team to visit this place, and a three-year contract for dental care service was signed. Dental care was given the first priority, since there was only one Tibetan dentist for over 700,000 Tibetans in India.
Dr. Do Chi Tan Bu, a resident physician of the Tibetan children's village, praised the help given by the medical team. He said that in addition to dental problems, inner ear infections were also serious. Since there were no specialists for inner ear treatment and surgery, many people had hearing impairments, which in turn adversely affected the learning process.
In Deckyiling of northern India, the Tibetan government-in-exile drafted 11 public health nurses and five dental therapists from refuge camps for a TRMPC crash course on tooth extraction, filling, and cleaning. Some journeyed three days on trains and one day by bus to learn more about dental hygiene, so they could teach their fellow countrymen.
Crossing the snow-covered Himalayas is another threat to the lives of Tibetans. Extremely low temperatures often cause frostbite. Their hands and feet are already black, when they reach Nepal. The only treatment that the nurses can give is medication and wrapping the wound. They urgently need surgery to prevent infection. TRMPC is currently working through the Taiwan Dalai Lama Foundation to meet the surgical needs of the Tibetans in Nepal.
In April 1999, during the Balkans war, TRMPC set up a field hospital at the Stenkovec refuge camp in the Brazda area of Macedonia to provide free medical services in pediatrics, medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, dental care, surgery, and ENT. There were long queues of patients waiting for care at the campsite for some time.
Dr. Liu says, "To provide free medical service overseas at his own expense is an enormous challenge. However, for those who are eager to help, this challenge is a worthy task. What they gain in return is a rewarding feeling. After experiencing an impoverished area, one will be more grateful for Taiwan's richness. Taiwan will continue to care for the welfare of mankind in the world community."
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| Doctors from the Tzu Chi Foundation are personally responsible for every aspect of their patients? health care. The Tzu Chi International Medical Association in the Philippines even provides surgery for patients who are unable to cover their medical expenses. (Courtesy of the Tzu Chi Foundation) |
Tzu Chi International Medical Association
The Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) was formed under the Tzu Chi Foundation by a group of health care professionals in 1996. Over 2,000 medical professionals have since volunteered to contribute their time and expertise in providing the highest possible quality health care to needy people through TIMA's seventeen branch offices around the world. To date, TIMA has provided over one hundred free clinics and served 275,000 patients.
TIMA maintains a permanent free clinic center in Los Angeles with four hundred volunteers working as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and service personnel. In 2001 alone, the center sponsored thirty-three neighborhood free clinics. It was invited to join Emergency Network Los Angeles, and this year, the free clinic center is expanding service to Indian reservations.
TIMA Northern California holds free clinics at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, TIMA New York works with local hospitals and provides a mobile free clinic every week, and the Hawaii free clinic provides services to all needy people.
Tzu Chi medical volunteers in the Dominican Republic have invited forty military surgeons and nurses to provide medical and dental treatments to impoverished schoolchildren.
In the past six years, TIMA volunteers in Brazil have held monthly clinics in Sao Paulo and surrounding areas. Their continuous service has won recognition from the local community and numerous opportunities to work with local medical organizations. Doctors from countries such as Vietnam, Iran, and Ecuador have joined TIMA free clinics in many disaster-stricken countries.
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| A strong earthquake in El Salvador destroyed countless homes, leaving numerous victims with nowhere to live except for simple, temporary shelters. Within 20 days, volunteers from Taiwan made two trips to El Salvador to provide emergency medical services. In one week, more than 3,600 people were treated. (Courtesy of the Tzu Chi Foundation) |
In the Philippines, half of the population lives in poverty. Since 1995, TIMA Philippines has conducted five free clinics in Baguio and Zamboanga each year. As the number of volunteers expands, larger free clinics have been held more frequently.
Indonesia is even more deficient in medical resources than the Philippines. Consisting of over ten thousand islands, the nation has a low standard of living, with many people in remote areas having never seen a doctor. Tzu Chi volunteers have joined local public health bureaus and military medical personnel to hold free clinics in outlying regions around Jakarta.
Liu Su-mei, head of the Tzu Chi Indonesia branch, said that some of their one hundred medical volunteers are superintendents of military hospitals or are even military generals. With their current manpower and facilities, TIMA Indonesia can only hold free clinics around Java. In order to sponsor free clinics on other islands, support from TIMA Singapore and Malaysia is needed.
TIMA Singapore has held free clinics on Batam Island in conjunction with TIMA Indonesia. It also plans to provide continuing medical care to residents of Tanjunpinang Island, Indonesia. In Malaysia, the aborigines of Sabah often lack the financial means to obtain medical treatment, so TIMA Malaysia provides free medical treatment in dentistry, pediatrics, and ENT to aborigines.
Perhaps Dr. Chou Kuei-hung, who is stationed in the Dominican Republic, said it best: "TIMA is a special organization. Its members are usually busy with their own work, but once a situation arises, they display a great ability to mobilize, like an efficient, well-organized reserve force."
TIMA volunteers always stop whatever they are doing and rush to provide medical equipment and medicine whenever disaster strikes in the spirit of the declaration they made when they first became doctors: "I solemnly pledge to consecrate my life to the service of humanity..."
Today, Taiwan's medical NGOs are ready to step out and see the world, while letting the world understand the contributions Taiwan can make to world health.
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