The International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF), Far Eastern Memorial Hospital and the Belize Ministry of Health and Wellness jointly implemented the "Project for Strengthening Medical Imaging System", and two Belizean general practitioners have successfully completed the radiology residency training course in Taiwan, a pioneering effort for us in assisting our allied country to train specialists. On November 24, 2022, the TaiwanICDF held an accomplishment presentation and closing ceremony, inviting guests from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital and the Taiwan Radiological Society to witness this proud moment.

The goal of this project is to assist Belize in cultivating radiologists, increasing the capacity of medical imaging services, and then improving the accessibility of medical imaging services in public hospitals within the country. With support from our Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2018, the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital customized the radiologist training course based on Belize’s medical system and passed the course review by the Taiwan Radiological Society. After the recommendations and qualifications review processes, two general practitioners, Dr. Stephanie Katherine Rivero and Dr. Tefarra Lectrice Smith, were selected and commenced a three-year training from December 4, 2019. They passed the radiologist examination provided by the Taiwan Radiological Society in October this year, and they will be registered as radiologists by the Medical Council of Belize upon returning to Belize, a new milestone for public health and medicine cooperation between Taiwan and our allies.

The TaiwanICDF’s Secretary General, H.E. Timothy T.Y. Hsiang, said in his remarks at the closing ceremony that the training of two radiologists is our country's commitment to the Belize government, and we also hope that they can support the project and expand their influence after returning to Belize. The two Belizean doctors shared what they have learned and their plans for conducting local trainings during their accomplishment presentation, and also expressed their sincere gratitude to the TaiwanICDF and Far Eastern Memorial Hospital for this training opportunity and for allowing them to gain plenty of clinical experience.

This cooperation in specialist training demonstrates that the TaiwanICDF’s public health and medicine projects utilize domestic public health medical strengths and development experience to assist partner countries in strengthening their healthcare and public health systems. In the future, we are also looking forward to cooperating with more hospitals and medical associations to cultivate more professional medical personnel for our partner countries.

• Update: 2022/11/29
• Hits:409