President Ma Ying-jeou met with Dr. Yoram Blachar, President of the World Medical Association, on the afternoon of April 17 and extended a warm welcome to him on behalf of the government and people of the ROC (Taiwan).
The president commented that Dr. Blachar is an eminent physician from Israel. In addition to his profession as a pediatric specialist, he has served as Chairman of the Israel Medical Association and been on the board of the World Medical Association for many years. Since heading up the World Medical Association, Dr. Blachar has been actively involved in traveling throughout the world to promote activities related to public health and medical services. President Ma expressed his delight at having the opportunity to meet with Dr. Blachar.
President Ma noted that the ROC (Taiwan) and Israel exchanged representative offices in 1992, paving the way for increased contacts between the two sides. He added that he visited Israel in 1999 and met with the mayors of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during the trip. The then mayor of Jerusalem ultimately became the nation's prime minister and his wife previously visited Taiwan and was invited by Taipei to be a resident artist. The president said that Taipei City in the past selected and sent artists to visit Israel, helping to foster interaction between the two countries. This trip marks Dr. Blachar's second visit to Taiwan, and the president said he hopes Dr. Blachar will fully support Taiwan's efforts to participate in this year's World Health Assembly, enabling Taiwan to make a contribution to world health.
The president also mentioned that during his tenure as Taipei Mayor he mobilized doctors from the city to make trips to outlying islands, providing permanent medical services to residents there. Physicians from Taipei have also traveled to Sri Lanka and Mongolia to engage in medical service in those nations. President Ma said many years ago Taiwan received cornea donations from Sri Lanka. Dispatching ophthalmologists to Sri Lanka to treat cataracts is one way of paying back the international community, he commented. The president said that since Taipei has been able to provide medical treatment assistance relying solely on its own resources as a city, then Taiwan's ability to mobilize its national resources would be all that much greater if it were able to become a member of the World Health Organization (WHO). It would engage in all sorts of assistance initiatives, generating a win-win situation for the WHO and the ROC (Taiwan), he said.