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The Reception Commemorating the 4th Anniversary of SARS is hoping to draw the international attention to Taiwan's aspiration to join WHO

5/3/2007

The Department of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are scheduled to hold the Reception Commemorating the 4th Anniversary of SARS, in Songshan Armed Forces General Hospital at 9 AM on May 4, 2007. President Chen Shui-bian, Minister of Foreign Affairs, James Huang, Minister of Health, Sheng-mou Hou and former Minister of Health, Chen Chien-jen will all give speeches. Minister Chang Fu-mei of the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Council will be present. Also attending the reception will be SARS survivors, family members of SARS victims, and medical staff, whose selfless and professional contributions at that time will be commemorated. It is also hoped that the occasion will draw the international community's attention to the aspiration of the people of Taiwan to participate in the WHO.>
President Chen will unveil the installation art piece entitled “Give Taiwan a Seat in the WHO” created by the Paper Wind Mill Foundation. A transparent chair represents Taiwan in a towering stack of chairs, a clear message as to the unfairness of Taiwan's exclusion from the international medical and health system. Although barely visible, the transparent chair is nevertheless a significant part of the whole, as is the gap that Taiwan's exclusion creates in the global medical system.
When the SARS epidemic erupted in Taiwan in 2003, Songshan Armed Forces General Hospital was the first hospital to specialize in taking care of suspected SARS patients. It is profoundly fitting that the commemoration be held at this hospital, which successfully stopped the spread of the disease and took on the tough job of treating patient.（E）