Taiwan donated the fourth batch of medical equipment to Saint Lucia on 19 June 2020 at the OKEU hospital. With this donation, the aggregate donation from Taiwan to Saint Lucia now includes: 300,000 surgical face masks, 10,000 N95 masks, 4,000 isolation suits (for indoors and outdoors), 2,000 protective suits, 2 PCR machines with 720 test kits, 20,000 tablets of hydroxychloroquine, 450 portable handheld thermometers, 6 body temperature imagers and 3 forehead thermometers with display screens.
H.E. Ambassador Douglas Cheng-Tsung Shen, Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, Hermangild Francis, Minister for Home Affairs, Justice and National Security and Mary Isaac, Minister for Health and Wellness all attended the ceremony along with medical personnel and the media.
Ambassador Shen stressed that the donation “represents the love and care of Taiwanese people and Government to our friends in Saint Lucia.” He said even though Taiwan and Saint Lucia are thousands of miles away, they will always stand together. Ambassador Shen congratulated the Saint Lucian Government on the magnificent achievement containing COVID-19 and showed his appreciation to Hon. Prime Minister Allen Chastanet for making statements supporting Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Organization (WHO).
Hon. Prime Minister Allen Chastanet thanked the Embassy of Taiwan for the donation. He said Taiwan’s experience in dealing with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is invaluable, both Taiwan’s Embassy in Saint Lucia, and the Saint Lucian Embassy in Taipei have been providing policy advices to Saint Lucian Government on controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. He also supported Taiwan’s participation in international organisations by reassuring Taiwan that Saint Lucia will continue to “advocate on every opportunity” Taiwan’s cause for international participation. He said he is happy to see G7 countries support Taiwan’s participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and hoped that G20 would follow suit in the future.
Minister Hermangild Francis said he wanted to express his “heart-felt gratitude” to Taiwan. He said the equipment is essential to the safety of front-line medical workers and forensic labs. He stressed the importance of efficient testing to reviving of Saint Lucian economy and believes that the donation “goes a long way.”
Minister Mary Isaac thanked Taiwan for the generous donation, reaffirmed her support for Taiwan to join WHO and commended Taiwan for continuously providing medical training to Saint Lucian medical personnel, as well as dispatching medical teams to Saint Lucia.
After the ceremony, the equipment was transferred to the Ministry of Health and Wellness.