Vice President Annette Lu attended a banquet for the "2006 International Hospital Federation Asian Pacific Regional Conference" on April 3, welcoming the conference participants and addressing the issues of improving Taiwan's healthcare system.
Founded in 1938, the International Hospital Federation has contributed a great deal to human health. Taiwan became a member of the federation in 1970 and since then has actively participated in the organization's activities.
In her address, the vice president emphasized Taiwan's socio-political development as a contributing factor to the drastic changes in the country's national healthcare system, namely the implementation of the National Health Insurance program in 1984, and the country's preventive measures in combating newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases like SARS and avian flu to highlight these improvements.
Citing the 2003 and 2004 SARS outbreaks as an exemplary case, the vice president called for an urgent inclusion of Taiwan into the global prevention network. "It will be too high a price to pay if Taiwan is excluded from the World Health Organization," the vice president said.
The vice president also spoke of the Democratic Pacific Union's "Pacific Disaster Prevention Center," which is currently rallying inter-congressional efforts and collaborating with Indonesia in preventing more outbreaks of avian flu.
The vice president wished the conference great success and all the participants an unforgettable time while in Taiwan.