「後 ECFA 時代」的醫療國際化工作
(趙 麟 2010/7/17)
一、前言
二、兩岸簽署 ECFA 的意義與效應：
(一) 兩岸關係的「四化」
；
(二) 具有「兩岸特色」的未來合作機制；
(三) 臺灣人須建立的「新國際觀」
。
三、
「醫療國際化」工作的內涵與方向：
(一) 積極參與國際醫療合作；
(二) 提昇「國際醫療衛生合作策略聯盟」之功能；
(三) 有效開發「觀光醫療」產業；
(四) 建立兩岸互利雙贏的「醫療交流」
。
五、
「醫療國際化」工作所面臨的挑戰：
(一) 政府方面 (二) 業者方面
六、結語
Saturday, August 22, 2009 SWAZI NEWS
FEATURES
P
AGE14
I
t is not often that a Head of State christens a for-eign diplomat with a new name, perhaps because diplo-matic etiquette does not per-mit this. But then again Am-bassador of the Republic of China on Taiwan to this coun-try, Leonard Chao, is not an ordinary diplomat.Having landed on his feet about three years earlier, Am-bassador Chao immediately got down and dirty in a pas-sionate mission to transform the lives of ordinary Swazis from the remotest corners of this the Kingdom of eSwatini that was probably the motiva-tion behind His Majesty King Mswati III breaking ranks and christening the Taiwanese en-voy with the vernacular name of Mashesha or the fast one.
And Mashesha is the name Ambassador Chao is affection-ately referred to by the major-ity of the people, whose lives he has not only touched in a way they could never have im-agined in their wildest dreams but positively changed.
Some light years into the fu-ture, some of our young peo-ple in Swaziland’s under-devel-oped rural areas will not un-derstand when their parents or elders tell them to be thankful to Mashesha each time they open a tap to drink safe and clean water.
P
ROJECTSNeither will they understand each time they switch-on lights at dusk or watch their television or use any electronic gadget in their respective households – those lucky to ac-quire such gadgets in their life-time – when once again they are reminded by their elders that had it not been for Mashesha they would prob-ably still be living in the dark ages, literally.
Provision of safe water and electrification of rural Swazi-land were some of the core ob-jectives of Ambassador Chao’s three-year sojourn in this coun-try shortly after he touched down on Swazi soil in 2006.
Ordinarily, these projects should have been on the first 10 years priority list of the post-independence govern-ment. But this was not to be since government tended to put focus on other projects and as a result the people had to wait until well into the 21st century for amenities that in comparatively similar envi-ronments had been basic way back towards the close of the last century.
Talking about these and other projects and programmes he pioneered since his arrival in the country, the Ivy League school educated diplomat – he
Mashesha : true friend
of the Swazi Nation
is a law graduate of the famed Harvard Law School in the United States of America, the same col-lege Barack Obama, the American president, attended – although somewhat satisfied with the progress made, one can sense that he would have loved to have stayed longer to oversee their completion and commissioning.
S
PECIALISEDBe that as it may, he proudly points to the Chinese Medical Mission based at the Mbabane Government Hospital, which has now become permanent, ensur-ing that patients have access to the best medical facilities and personnel. The mission has res-cued an otherwise crumbling public health delivery system that could no longer cope with the challenges wrought about by the twin challenges of HIV/ AIDS and poverty.
Ambassador Chao proudly points to the almost E7 million that has been saved from the Phalala Fund, a fund created by government to finance the under-privileged who could not afford specialised treatment not avail-able in the country.
The Chinese Medical Mission has been able to perform some of the most sophisticated proce-dures that previously could not be done locally; 60 brain, spine sur-geries and more than 40 abdomi-nal and orthopedics surgeries.
He noted proudly in some of the
many interviews he has had with the local print media that some of the cases were done for the first time in this country and these in-cluded shunting surgery for con-genital hydrocephalus (tradition-ally referred to as “Big Head”); open skull surgery for head inju-ries; cervical and lumbar spine surgeries and total hip joint re-placement.
A
LLEVIATEIf the Sovereign broke protocol by becoming familiar with Ambas-sador Chao to the extent of chris-tening him with a SiSwati name, then the Taiwanese diplomat re-ciprocated the gesture by discard-ing diplomatic protocol of con-ducting business strictly through government by ventur-ing out to interact with and physi-cally mix mortar and concrete to bring to life whatever project he believed could alleviate the suf-fering and improve the lives of ordinary people.
He hardly ventured in jacket tie whenever he was travelling to the rural areas because he under-stood that he had to also physi-cally engage with the people he was so passionate about lifting and improving their lifestyles.
He readily points out that all the projects and programmes his gov-ernment undertakes in the coun-try, which also include training programmes, provision of exper-tise in agriculture, scholar assist-ance programmes such as
provid-ing scholarships to Swazi stu-dents, were all meant to achieve a holistic well-being of the country in order to make the lives of ordi-nary people better.
There is no area of national de-velopment and economic endeav-our that Mashesha has not en-sured his government’s participa-tion in either through funding or offering technical expertise and this ranges from giving a finan-cial hand towards the construc-tion of Sikhuphe Internaconstruc-tional Airport to smallholder maize, sweet potato and sorghum farm-ing activities across rural Swaziland.
On the formal economic front, although Mashesha boasts that Taiwanese textile industry had created jobs in excess of 100 000, he was much more focused in see-ing strategic partnerships be-tween Chinese investors and Swazis, explaining that the former had already shown inter-est towards achieving this goal through manufacturing of indus-trial machinery, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), etc., that would culminate with technological transfer other than concentrate just on ordinary trade.
In his three years during which time he also rose to become the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, July 2008, Mashesha so much turned the diplomatic terrain on its head that he became a
con-stant feature in the letters to the editor pages of some of the local newspapers, where indi-viduals and communities ei-ther appealed for assistance or simply expressed their grati-tude for having come to their assistance.
The community of Nkoyoyo (S’tibeni) authored one of such emotion-filled letters appealing for assistance from Mashesha; “You are the only hope and shoulder to lean on as you have saved other areas in Swaziland. We the residents of Nkoyoyo (S’tibeni) are facing a water cri-sis. We are close to Mbabane City that some people can never think we can go through such (suffering).
“We sent an application to the Swaziland Water Services Cor-poration (SWSC) some years back. They said if 10 home-steads can pay the deposit they could provide us with water. More than 25 (homesteads) paid with the hope that they would see the need (for water). To our surprise two years have gone by without water. When our del-egation is sent to get an update from the SWSC, we get nothing.
M
ISSED“We don’t know what to do. What about the money we paid? Please Mr Mashesha help us we need water, we know you can.”
This letter, and many others, goes to show just how deep Am-bassador Mashesha has en-deared himself to the ordinary people through his humility and compassion. Indeed he went beyond the call of duty as exemplified recently when an elderly woman of KaPhunga area complained about sore legs during a visit of the area by a Taiwan Root Medical Corps.
Without further ado Ambas-sador Mashesha was on bended knees applying ointment on and massaging the legs of the elderly woman, something that was unheard of, especially from a diplomat. To show just how unpretentious he was, the am-bassador had missed a trip to Cape Town, South Africa, just so that he could, be part of the medical corps visit to this ru-ral under developed corner of Swaziland.
H
UMILITYWhile Ambassador Chao has personally honoured by em-bracing me as a good friend, it was probably the emotional de-spair of his Personal Assistant (PA), Isabella Hlolile Gilbert, on Mashesha’s pending depar-ture that just about summed up the man, when she said she had never met someone, especially a diplomat, that was so unpre-tentious, real, compassionate and passionate, that was so complete a human being and a picture of humility like the Tai-wanese envoy. And she was a picture of emotional wreck not knowing how her future would shape up after Mashesha’s de-parture.
But although Mashesha is physically leaving these shores, he will not be totally lost to Swaziland because, as he says, “this country is my second home”. He adds that while many people expected him to be Swaziland’s ambassador to the Republic of China on Taiwan upon his return home, he rea-sons that he has a larger role to play and that is being “Swaziland’s ambassador to the world”.
In many ways Ambassador Mashesha was the champion of the poor and a true friend of the Swazi Nation.
…provision of safe water and electrification of rural Swaziland were some of the
core objectives of Ambassador Chao’s three-year sojourn in this country shortly
after he touched down on Swazi soil in 2006. Ordinarily, these projects should have
been on the first 10 years priority list of the post-independence government. But this
was not to be since government tended to put focus on other projects and as a result the
people had to wait until well into the 21st century for amenities that in comparatively
similar environments had been basic way back towards the close of the last century
FAMILY MAN:Outgoing Taiwanese Ambassador Leonard Chao, known as Mashesha, gives children toys at KA-PHUNGA Police Camp. His legacy will live on even after his departure in Swaziland next month.
