Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu called on foreign occupational health experts Friday to speak for Taiwan and to push their respective countries to support Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Organization (WHO) and other major international organizations.
Lu made the appeal while addressing the opening of the 17th Asian Occupational Health Symposium at Taipei's Grand Hotel.
In her keynote speech, Lu also urged occupational health experts from 20-plus countries to offer advice to help Taiwan craft a comprehensive mechanism to protect its people from occupational diseases and injuries as well as a professional medical service system.
Lu said Taiwan has been barred from the WHO simply because of Beijing's opposition. As a matter of fact, she said, Taiwan is fully qualified to become a WHO member. "Our medical services have met the world standards and we have taken part in many international humanitarian relief programs to help other countries," Lu said, adding it is her hope that all participants to the current seminar will speak for Taiwan's cause on every possible international occasion and lobby their countries to support Taiwan's WHO bid.
Meanwhile, Lu said Taiwan's economic advancement over the past five decades has been the result of the concerted efforts of the people of Taiwan who have devoted their sweat, energy and wisdom to realize the country's development goal. "Our economic success will dim a lot if our government, employers, labor unions and medical institutions fail to pool resources to protect the health of all workers and improve the workplace environment, " Lu said, adding that employers should refrain from creating their own wealth at the expense of their employees.
In the past, Lu said, the interests of the rich and the powerful had often been considered first while the environment and the well-being of other people had been overlooked.
Nowadays, with concepts of human rights coming to maturity in Taiwan, Lu said, more emphasis should be placed on the preservation of the natural environment and on the promotion of the health and well-being of all people regardless of their wealth or social status.
The four-day seminar has brought together more than 500 occupational health scholars and experts from the United States, mainland China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, Taiwan and several other countries.
The seminar's agenda includes 16 main themes related to occupational health, including air pollution, cancer, climatic changes, as well as skin and nervous system diseases.