Amb. Fiona Huei-Chun Fan attended the handover ceremony of two fully-equipped ambulances under the ”Public Health Emergency Response System Enhancement Project in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines” on 31st October, 2023. Hon. St. Clair Prince, Minister of Health, Wellness and the Environment, Mr. Cuthbert Knights, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Ms. Michelle Forbes, Director of the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO), Mr. Sean Rose, Director of the Agency for Public Information (API), Mr. Joel James, Superintendent of the Royal Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF), 6 medical specialists from the Mackay Memorial Hospital, 6 seed instructors, officers and members of the SVG government and medical system, Embassy and Technical Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the media also attended the ceremony.
Amb. Fan said in her remarks that the ”Public Health Emergency Response System Enhancement Project in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines” was the first of its kind which the International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF) launched in the world, and the only one in the Caribbean region. The Project was under the collaboration among the Ministry of Health, NEMO, police and the fire-fighting system and had been recognized as effectively strengthening the public health emergency response system in SVG. As of the day of the ceremony, 16 seed instructors had been sent to Taiwan for intensive training of three months. After they returned to SVG, a series of workshops were conducted and more than 120 medical specialists, police and fire-fighting personnel as well as participants from other public and private sectors had completed the training. The donated ambulances would be dispatched at the Stubbs Polyclinic and the Levi Latham Health Complex and anticipated to greatly enhance the public health emergency response system in SVG. She also expressed gratitude for Minister Prince’s call for Taiwan’s inclusion at the World Health Assembly (WHA) for the past 2 consecutive years.
In his remarks, Hon. Minister Prince elaborated the revolutionary policies implemented by the Ministry of Health, including promoting infrastructure and equipment of health facilities in SVG, enhancing quality of medical services, fighting Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and cancers. The morbidity and mortality of those disease had topped in the country. He looked forward to cooperating with Taiwan in the fight with NCDs in the future. He reaffirmed the outcome of the ”Public Health Emergency Response System Enhancement Project in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines” and expressed sincere appreciation for the long-term support from the government and people of Taiwan, especially to TaiwanICDF, the Taiwan Technical Mission and the Mackay Memorial Hospital which dispatched a delegation of 6 medical specialists to assist the workshops in SVG for two consecutive years. (E)
