Foreign health workers pay tribute to Taiwan counterparts

Taipei, Sept. 10 (CNA) A group of foreign healthcare workers in Taiwan highly praised the country's medical service personnel, upon completion Friday of a training program for health professionals mostly from nations with diplomatic links to Taiwan.

The two-month program, now in its fifth year, provided training in the fields of medical laboratory science, biomedical engineering and hospital management for a record 41 participants from 17 countries.

Bakary Sanneh, a supervisor and laboratory scientist from Gambia's provincial Basse Major Health Center, said at the closing ceremony that he was impressed with the level of expertise, discipline and friendship that was shown by the Taiwanese professionals with whom he and the other group members worked.

"After five days of hard training, they would take us out on weekends to eat and to visit scenic spots, and they did so with smiles all the time," Sanneh said.

Sanneh's training was carried out at Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital in southern Taiwan, while the other participants were assigned to 18 other hospitals across the country.

With the help of his Taiwanese friends, Sanneh said, he was able to make contact with a company that sells secondhand medical laboratory equipment, which is exactly what Gambia needs.

In keeping with the "Sharing" theme of the 2010 Healthcare Personnel Training Program, Taiwan's medical professionals shared their experience with the participants, who in turn will pass on that knowledge when they return to their countries, said Ileana Joy Downs Gonzalez of Nicaragua.

The program is managed by the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), the principal body that administers Taiwan's development projects abroad, and is geared toward improving human resources and medical services in the allied countries.

Since the launch of the program five years ago, it has trained 117 foreign healthcare workers, the ICDF said.

It has been held in collaboration with the International Healthcare Cooperation Strategic Alliance, a coalition of 37 hospitals. (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc

MOFA probing alleged slavery in Costa Rica involving Taiwanese

Taipei, April 13 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday that it was trying to collect information on the involvement of Taiwanese nationals in an alleged case of the enslavement of 36 Asians on fishing boats and suspected human trafficking in Costa Rica.

The MOFA was responding to reports from media outlets stating that three men and one woman -- three of which are Taiwanese -- were arrested by the Costa Rican authorities at the port of Puntarenas and accused of using 36 Asians on two fishing boats as slave labor. All the suspects were released under their own recognizance.

The ministry instructed its embassies in Panama and Nicaragua to monitor the situation and collect information, as there are no diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Costa Rica, MOFA deputy spokesman James Chang said.

Costa Rica severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 2007 after maintaining official ties for almost 60 years.

"We would like to express our concern from a humanitarian standpoint for the people abused if the case proves to be true, " he said, adding that although the four had been released, the Costa Rican authorities were still investigating the case.

Costa Rican police Sunday freed the 36 Asians -- 15 Vietnamese, 13 Indonesians, five Filipinos, two Taiwanese and a Chinese national -- from "inhumane" conditions aboard two fishing boats, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and local paper La Nacion reported, adding that the men were allegedly beaten and forced to work for up to 20 hours a day without pay.

The case surfaced after nine Vietnamese men escaped by jumping overboard, swimming to shore and alerting the authorities four months ago.

Two employees surnamed Espinoza and Wang, and a brother and sister by the family name of Tseng who are the president and treasurer, respectively, of the Imperio Pesquero del Pacifico S.A. company, were finally arrested Saturday.

A local newspaper reported that the three Taiwanese and one Costa Rican were charged with human trafficking, which in Costa Rica carries a sentence of between eight and 16 years in prison. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J