Vice President Vincent C. Siew, Mrs. Siew, and a delegation from the ROC spent a second day in Panama on May 17.
In the morning at 9:40 a.m. (10:40 p.m. the same day Taipei time), the vice president, at the invitation of Panamanian Vice President and Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Varela, toured Hospital de Panama Este in an eastern suburb of Panama City and attended a press conference to introduce a cooperation project involving the construction of a similar hospital in the northern suburbs of Panama City. Also attending the event were officials including Panama's Health Minister Franklin Vergara and members of Taiwan's delegation, including Senior Advisor to the President Chan Chi-shean (詹啟賢) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Chin-tien Yang (楊進添). After a briefing on the proposed hospital in the northern suburbs, Vice President Siew stated that, with his trip nearing an end, the press conference for the new hospital project has filled him with anticipation. The ROC and Panama have a longstanding alliance and a deep friendship, and the foremost objective of bilateral cooperation over the years has been to improve the wellbeing of the people, the vice president remarked, adding that cooperation projects are being carried out under the principle of "seeking proper goals, acting lawfully, and exercising effective administration" in an effort to ensure transparency and openness. The new hospital project is a perfect example of responding to actual needs, he said.
Vice President Siew noted that the Panama City teaching hospital project in the eastern part of the city was completed in December of last year under the leadership of Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli and Vice President Varela. Besides providing care to 250,000 residents of Panama City, the hospital even more importantly will engage in educational cooperation with the University of Panama to cultivate well-qualified physicians and raise the quality of medical care, he said. The construction of the new hospital in the northern suburbs of the city will soon commence, and the facility is expected to open its doors in 2013, enabling 200,000 neighboring residents to receive timely medical care without the need for traveling a far distance. The ROC, said the vice president, is extremely pleased to participate in a project that will provide more convenient medical services and generate greater wellbeing for the people of Panama.
The vice president remarked that he attaches great importance to health care. Even though he has spent most of his time promoting economic development over the past two decades, the vice president said that 16 years ago he had the opportunity to participate in the planning and implementation of Taiwan's National Health Insurance system, which is extremely popular in Taiwan and is commonly cited as the government policy that the public is most satisfied with. This shows that health care transcends borders and is valued by all of humankind, he commented.
Vice President Siew also specially introduced Senior Advisor Chan, who accompanied him to the event, and praised him as an outstanding medical professional. Chan previously served as the ROC's Minister of Health and headed the renowned Chi Mei Hospital Medical Research Center in southern Taiwan. Mr. Chan, he said, has made enormous contributions to raising the quality of health care services in Taiwan, and in recent years led a research team in developing a vaccine to the H1N1 influenza, thus emerging victorious in the battle against that strain of flu. The success of this initiative was recognized by the international community, noted the vice president, who expressed his belief that Mr. Chan's expertise and wealth of experience will enable him to provide Panama's Ministry of Health with a host of good suggestions, thereby helping the people of Panama share in the fruits of Taiwan's accomplishments in medicine and biotechnology.
While Vice President Siew was attending the press conference, Mrs. Siew was being accompanied by Mrs. Varela on a tour of the ROC-Panamanian Cultural Center. The pair received an enthusiastic welcome from the students and teachers upon their arrival at the center. The facility was established in 1980, and the affiliated Sun Yat-sen Institute includes a kindergarten, an elementary school division, and junior high and high school divisions. About 1,700 students attend the institution. Mrs. Siew also visited a Chinese language class that was in session and interacted with the students. A while later Mrs. Siew visited a shelter for young girls from single-parent and poor families. Established in 1949, the facility now serves as home for 28 children. Mrs. Siew donated funds and goods to each of the children residing at the home on behalf of the people of the ROC, relaying the compassion and warmth of the Taiwanese people. She also expressed her hope that the gesture would spur others to provide even more assistance for girls from underprivileged backgrounds. The children came up to Mrs. Siew and gave her hugs.
Vice President and Mrs. Siew and the delegation from the ROC boarded their chartered plane at 3:00 p.m. (4:00 a.m. on May 18 Taipei time) and departed Panama. After a five-hour flight, the plane arrived at 9:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. on May 18 Taipei time) in New York City, where the delegation will have a stopover before returning to Taiwan.