St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has received a donation from MacKay Memorial Hospital in Taiwan for the establishment of a prosthetic limb workshop.

On December 23, under a project funded by Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund and Teh Lin Pros & Ortho Inc., 100 sets of prosthetic components were donated to this country.

At the donation ceremony, SVG’s Ambassador to Taiwan Andrea Bowman expressed thanks on behalf SVG and said over 80 per cent of the amputations performed at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital are linked to diabetes.

MacKay Memorial Hospital has been working closely with the Vincentian government since 2018 on a project to prevent and control diabetes in the country, she said.

“With a population as small as 110,000, every Vincentian, at home or abroad, is in some way affected by the painful reality of diabetes,” Bowman said, thanking MacKay Memorial Hospital for its assistance.

She said the establishment of this workshop would facilitate capacity building and self-reliance among health care providers on the ground in SVG.

Ambassador Bowman said about two months ago, a “diabetes van or vehicle” donated by Taiwan was commissioned in SVG as a means of taking the message of diabetes prevention, management and control from community to community and thus far, 19 health care personnel from SVG have been trained by The MacKay Memorial in Taiwan.

“In my country, the MacKay Memorial Hospital has become synonymous with diabetes prevention and control,” Bowman said.

Also on December 23, SVG was among Taiwan’s diplomatic allies who received rapid screening tests for COVID-19, donated by TaiDoc Technology, a Taiwanese manufacturer of health monitoring systems and devices.

The 300,000 rapid screening tests donated by TaiDoc Technology will be shared among all of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, excluding the Holy See. The tests will also be given to Somaliland, a self-declared East African state that formally opened its representative office in Taiwan in September.

At the donation ceremony, Vice Foreign Minister Miguel Tsao said screening remains an important preventative measure despite the growing availability of COVID-19 vaccines.

According to TaiDoc Technology Chairman Chen Chao-wang, the rapid screening test, which can produce results in 15 minutes, has been certified by the European CE and Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration.

TaiDoc Technology, which donated 35,000 forehead thermometers and 250 automated temperature measurement systems to Taiwan’s allies in April, partnered with Fora Care Foundation to make the latest donation.