A total of 15 trainers are expected to head to Taiwan over a three- year span where they will be trained in the areas of Chronic Disease prevention and control.
The inauguration ceremony for the commencement of the course was held on August 11th at the Ministry of Health.
Project Manager, John Lin says personnel from different areas of health will be chosen to attend the training.
A seven-member delegation from the Cathay General Hospital met with the first five trainers who are expected to leave this September. The group consists of Medical Officer – Dr. Marlon Ragunanan, nurses Alexandra Jemmot and Jasmin Daniel, nutritionist Ms. Olivia Felix and the lead on the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, Nurse Yolanda Alcindor.
Dr. Marlon Ragunanan, a former scholar of the I-Shou (E-sure) University of Taiwan, heaped praises on the quality of education offered by the friendly nation.
Dr. Ragunanan is lobbying the new approach which includes establishing team and community-based methods of fighting the chronic illnesses.
According to him, “I believe that is the way to go, and with the assistance of our friends from Taiwan I hope that we can get the required knowledge to establish such a system of care in our local setting. Adopting some of the strategies that you have used and are using in Taiwan I’m sure can be very helpful…”
The seed trainers, set to leave for Taiwan in September, will meet a new curriculum tailored to St. Lucia and its needs.
Dr. Lin Ching-Ling was part of a seven-member delegation from the Cathay General Hospital on island, assessing the island’s health needs.
“After this visit our team in Cathay General Hospital will organize a customized curriculum for the trainers to come to strengthen their capacity. I believe they will benefit from the tailored training programme in Taiwan and achieve successful implementation after they return to your beautiful country,” Dr. Ching-Ling said.
Taiwanese Ambassador, H.E. Peter Chia-Yen Chen says St. Lucia and Taiwan continue to strengthen ties, this time in the area of healthcare.
Ambassador Chen highlighted the activity as another milestone for the cooperation between the two countries; Minister for Health, Hon. Moses Jn. Baptiste expressed extreme gratitude to all who made the venture possible.
“I know that you’ve made tremendous sacrifices, all of our healthcare workers. Daily you make sacrifice for the people of St. Lucia. The government is proud of your dedication and the government is proud of your commitment. We know that you do not have everything that you need and we are trying our very best to give you what you need to do your work. We thank you for your work. We thank the government and people of Taiwan for the partnership. We thank you for all of what you do for us and all of what you help us with,” Jn. Baptiste said.
On completion of the training, work is expected to begin in regions 5, 6, 7 and 8.
The seed trainers are expected to conduct a series of trainings and workshops with other health practitioners as the island continues its fight against NCD’s.