President of IFBLS Ms. Kyoko Komatsu;
Chairman of the Organizing Committee Mr. Chuan-Liang Kao (高全良);
President of the Taiwan Society of Laboratory Medicine Mr. Wen-Shyang Hsieh (謝文祥);
President of the Taiwan Association of Medical Technologists Mr. Jiunn-Jong Wu (吳俊忠);
Deputy Secretary-General to the President Mr. Hsiung Kuang-hua (熊光華);
Vice President of Academia Sinica Mr. Chien-jen Chen (陳建仁);
Ladies and gentlemen:
Good afternoon!
I'm very happy to be here at the Opening Ceremony of the 31st World Congress of Biomedical Laboratory Science. Let me start by extending a warm welcome to the 1,500 professionals from the industrial, government, and academic communities who are here to take part in this outstanding academic conference. You represent almost 40 different countries, and we're very delighted to have you here.
The World Congress of Biomedical Laboratory Science is the biggest international conference in its field. The Congress is held once every two years, each time in a different city. The fact that Taiwan was chosen for the first time this year as the location for this event shows that the Republic of China's biomedical laboratories and its biomedical research community are held in high regard by the international community. I'd like to express my special thanks to the local organizers of this Congress for the hard work they did to bring it to Taiwan.
Biomedical laboratory science plays an enormously important role in medicine and healthcare. In clinical practice, some 60% to 70% of all medical actions are based on the results of lab tests. For this reason, biomedical laboratory science occupies a very important position in modern medicine. In particular, in today's highly health-conscious society, demand for medical tests is growing fast. Highly precise testing technologies and monitoring indicators are needed for the early detection and prevention of disease, for they enable doctors to diagnose patients correctly and treat them appropriately. In my own case, for example, as mayor of Taipei City in 2003, doctors suspected that I might have come down with SARS. Lab results, however, enabled them to rule out SARS, much to my relief. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to the lab technologist back then whose professional judgment meant so much to me.
Ladies and gentlemen, if I had been infected with SARS, it would have been devastating for myself, my family, and the Taipei City government. For the city government to prepare for the worst, we have divided the officials of the city government into two teams, one led by myself, and the other led by my deputy mayor. Just in case I was disabled by the isolation related to SARS, the other team would take over. So I stayed in my office for six weeks during the height of the SARS onslaught without going home even for one minute. By the end of the SARS onslaught, I was ready to go home. So I called my wife telling her that I would be home very soon. The response from my wife, which surprised me, was: "Why do you want to come home? You haven't completely got rid of SARS yet." Ladies and gentlemen, with a wife like this, you don't really need enemies.
Taiwan's national health insurance and medical systems are among the best in the world. They are in good shape, and our people are very physically active. As a result, the average life expectancy continues to grow longer. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the average life expectancy in 2012 was almost 80 years old, with 76 years for men, and 83 years for women. As of July 2014, there were 2.7 million persons aged 65 or older in Taiwan, accounting for 12% of the total population. The elderly will exceed 14% of the total population by 2018, which would make Taiwan an "aged society."
As you know, demographic aging is now a permanent trend in human society, and many countries have been watching the trend very closely for a very long time. The theme of this year's Congress here is "Laboratory Medicine in Successful Aging." This theme sheds a spotlight on a social issue that faces all human beings in all societies; it also calls to mind the words of an ancient Chinese philosopher, Mencius (孟子), who said: "While caring for our own elderly, let us also care for the elderly of others," because caring for our elderly is caring for the future of ourselves.
We are all aware, of course, that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and you in this audience definitely don't need me to explain how important biomedical laboratory science is to the maintenance of health in an aging society. Taiwan has 383 biomedical laboratories, including 235 that have service provider arrangements under the National Health Insurance system. By the way, our National Health Insurance system covers 99.6% of our 23 million people in Taiwan. These laboratories employ a total of 9,000 medical laboratory technologists and 204 medical laboratory technicians. They've provided a wide range of biomedical lab services over the years, including national health insurance lab tests and examinations as well as preventive screenings. Their service is universally praised for its high quality, and I'm happy to note that they've contributed a lot to the prevention of major illnesses.
My hope is that the discussions here on such topics as clinical laboratory testing, biomarking, personalized medicine, and quality control will spur further progress in the field of biomedical laboratory science. That would be a big contribution to the health and well-being of all mankind.
I hope you will take this opportunity to do some sightseeing around Taiwan after your very busy schedule in the meetings. As a former mayor of Taipei City, I certainly will make some suggestions of where you should go. First of all, you should go to the National Palace Museum, which has art treasures collected by at least 25 emperors in the last 3,000 years. So you can see the past of this country in that museum. But for the present of this society, you should go to our night markets to taste more than a hundred delicious local snacks. Certainly, last but not least, you should squeeze some time out of your busy schedule to do as much shopping as possible to help our economy recover. Thank you very much.