End of exile for Taiwan

Abstract

Eddy Tsai discusses (Dec 18/25, p 2157)1Tsai E Why the Republic of China should be included in WHO.Lancet. 1999; 354: 2157Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar the inclusion of The Republic of China into WHO membership. China's neighbour, Taiwan, also desires WHO membership. The Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan (MPAT) advocates membership of Taiwan to WHO in order to increase the standard of health services.MPAT was established in 1992 with 5 goals: to promote high standards in medical practice, ethics, policy, and social welfare; to advocate high standards in medical education; to raise public awareness on environmental health; to actively advance human rights and democracy; and to help communication between Taiwanese medical professionals and the international medical community.The main difficulty concerning Taiwan's membership to WHO is that it has become a political issue. And yet, every member of WHO voiced their support for health care as a basic human right and supported the Health For All Programme. Indeed, the issue is one of human rights not politics. On humanitarian grounds, the 22 million people of Taiwan need membership of their country to WHO. When people suffer and even die of diseases not known to doctors in Taiwan merely because of lack of information and communication with the outside world, the urgency for membership becomes very clear. Taiwan's troubled relationship with China should not block its chances of joining WHO, neither should China stand in Taiwan's way.For all doctors, human rights workers, and individual organisations engaged in social welfare, the time has come to consider the appeal by Taiwan. Eddy Tsai discusses (Dec 18/25, p 2157)1Tsai E Why the Republic of China should be included in WHO.Lancet. 1999; 354: 2157Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar the inclusion of The Republic of China into WHO membership. China's neighbour, Taiwan, also desires WHO membership. The Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan (MPAT) advocates membership of Taiwan to WHO in order to increase the standard of health services. MPAT was established in 1992 with 5 goals: to promote high standards in medical practice, ethics, policy, and social welfare; to advocate high standards in medical education; to raise public awareness on environmental health; to actively advance human rights and democracy; and to help communication between Taiwanese medical professionals and the international medical community. The main difficulty concerning Taiwan's membership to WHO is that it has become a political issue. And yet, every member of WHO voiced their support for health care as a basic human right and supported the Health For All Programme. Indeed, the issue is one of human rights not politics. On humanitarian grounds, the 22 million people of Taiwan need membership of their country to WHO. When people suffer and even die of diseases not known to doctors in Taiwan merely because of lack of information and communication with the outside world, the urgency for membership becomes very clear. Taiwan's troubled relationship with China should not block its chances of joining WHO, neither should China stand in Taiwan's way. For all doctors, human rights workers, and individual organisations engaged in social welfare, the time has come to consider the appeal by Taiwan.