News Room

The Republic of Palau is an island nation in the western Pacific Ocean made up of a barrier reef and numerous small islands. The country has about 340 islands with a population of about 20,000 people, who mostly reside in Koror, the former capital. It is geographically the closest country having diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Over the years the two sides have had a long-standing and inseparable relationship in the fields of education, medical care, humanistic exchanges, and economic development.
With the continued global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's medical cooperation program not only continues to provide medical services and referrals, but also actively engages in epidemic prevention cooperation. By exporting Taiwan's world-class experience and expertise in health care, the program strengthens cooperation in epidemic prevention and technical exchanges in health care between Taiwan and Palau, further demonstrating the benefits of Taiwan's soft power and medical aid to foreign countries.
Due to impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the risks of travel and cluster infections have become more serious. With emerging and maturing technology in the field of telemedicine, professional health care services are integrated with the latest IT technology to enable participants to interact with each other over long distances for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment, care and education. The Shin Kong Hospital medical mission in Palau organizes video conferences and instructional sessions according to the needs of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Palau. The hospital also dispatches a long-term medical team to Palau to provide assistance wherever resource capacity permits. In addition to medical consultations, surgeries, and workshops, the Shin Kong team also brings much-needed medicines and medical supplies to Palau, which is lack of resources. The resident medical staff actively promotes chronic disease screening, school nutrition programs, nutrition advocacy, and disease prevention and treatment among other public health programs to strengthen the bilateral ties.
During the pandemic, there were many constraints and uncertainties in the execution of various programs and initiatives around the world. Fortunately, we are in Palau, where the spread of the pandemic is relatively low, aided by the fact that Taiwan is the only diplomatic ally with direct flights to Palau. Although there were some inconveniences due to epidemic prevention policies, it was possible to dispatch a short-term medical team to Palau, a great help during this extraordinarily difficult time.
A particularly impressive case was a little girl who swallowed a coin that subsequently got stuck in her throat. Local pediatricians and the endoscopists were not confident that they could remove the foreign object, so they were at their wits' end and wanted to refer the little girl to Taiwan for an emergency procedure.
At that time, Dr. Mu Shu-Chi, Director of Pediatric Department, heard about the incident, immediately helped to consult with colleagues from the Pediatric Gastroenterology Department of Shin Kong Hospital. After discussion, she found that if referral to Taiwan was continued, and if the foreign object moved and became further stuck in the airway during the flight, it would subject the girl to a more dangerous situation and might even cause the plane to perform an emergency medical landing elsewhere. After the consultation, it was decided that Director Mu would use a sterile catheter to place the tube into the esophagus and then remove the foreign object with water or push the foreign object into the stomach and let the child expel the object naturally. But the process may also cause foreign object to become even more stuck in the airway.
At the beginning, when explaining the medical procedure to the little girl’s family, we observed their tense facial expressions, with some members even choking up during the discussion because they were worried and afraid. Finally, the girl's family agreed to let us perform the medical procedure locally. Therefore, with apprehensive nerves, we changed into surgical gowns and waited for the operating room and the anesthesia team to arrive (we were worried that if the airway is stuck, we needed to perform emergency procedures, so the whole team needs to be on standby). During the wait, the team constantly simulated various scenarios that might occur during the operation. With the arrival of the team and the girl's anxious cries, the medical procedure was completed quickly and successfully, with the Taiwan-based team connected live throughout the process. When the sound of the coin falling out from the girl's mouth was heard, everyone screamed and cheered in joy, and all could let out a sigh of relief. The girl's family also came in to comfort the girl after it was over, and cried and hugged everyone there as well as expressing their gratitude to all present. I don't think I will ever forget the warmth of that hug, the weight of that thank you, and that sentimental and touching moment.
Finally, I would like to say this: Despite the ongoing pandemic, our love has never stopped. The light is omnipresent, and may our hearts always be by your side.