News Room

As the COVID-19 pandemic began around the world in 2020, countries closed their borders one by one to prevent the spread. The Shuang Ho Hospital (“the Hospital) is concerned about the impact of suspending our medical team stationed in the RMI and has continued offering telemedicine consultations for international patients. Due to limited specialist training in the RMI, we have divided telemedicine consultation into two categories: First is the telemedicine consultation for complicated cases so that local doctors have access to consult our specialists and subspecialists for second opinions. Second is the telemedicine consultation for referral patients so that those unable to get any further treatments locally have access to a comprehensive referral system for follow-up treatments in Taiwan.
The Hospital has been assisting the RMI in establishing a medical internship training program since 2017. Each year one to five Marshallese students graduate from the postbac program of the School of Medicine for International Students, I-Shou University, can still receive good internship training without being restricted by lack of medical education resources after returning home. The Hospital continues benevolence by promoting medical soft power in the Marshall Islands. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Hospital immediately adjusted its teaching method on a rolling basis to avoid interupted learning for the Marshallese interns and organized virtual subspecialty training based on their local specialties so that Taiwan’s benevolence will not go to waste. This year is the fifth year, eight medical interns have successfully obtained medical licenses locally, with three interns currently underway and one more to be enrolled in March 2022. This program is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 17.9 Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development, and will enable the Marshall Islands to develop the capacity of self-trained medical practitioners without having to rely on the foreign nationals in the long run.
Besides providing clinical services, the Hospital took over the Taiwan Health Center in 2013 and has been dedicated to promoting public health. The Community Lifestyle Program, a community-based diabetes prevention program launched by the Taiwan Health Center in 2015, has been assisting Marshallese community screening and tracking over 2,500 people each year. The Hospital has also extended the program to the outer islands, such as Ebon and Wotje in 2021, giving outer islanders the opportunity to understand their health and to seek treatment as early as possible. Diabetes is still high in the RMI. Apart from the diet, good health education must begin at an early age. Therefore, the Taiwan Health Center and the NGO Wellness Center, together with the RMI Ministry of Health, have been working with the RMI Ministry of Education since 2017 to discuss elementary health education curriculum, and to develop teaching materials that would become Marshallese elementary health education materials in 2019. In 2021, the Hospital was honored to be invited by the RMI Ministry of Education to revise the Healthy School Lunch Audit Form and participate in the Marshallese National Nutrition Program Review Panel. In addition, we were invited to join the Early Childhood Development Project sponsored by the World Bank Group to provide 1,078 children with oral hygiene care services.
Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Taiwan Health Center held a three-day COVID-19 International Conference from 24 to 26 November 2021, inviting 13 experts from 6 countries, including the US CDC, PIHOA and Taiwan CDC, to give talks. The 3-day event was conducted remotely with a total of 259 participants on site.