Local doctors' medical mission lauded at book launch

The book, titled “Love Begins from the Equator” (愛從赤道零度開始), documented a collection of case stories that the Taiwanese medical practitioners had encountered since their mission in the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, an island nation off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa that has been an diplomatic ally of Taiwan for the past fifteen years.

Taiwan began sending medical practitioners to the African country in 2009, and Chi Li-hsing (祁力行), a dentist and also an oral and maxillofacial surgeon who had joined the team since 2010, pointed out yesterday that one of the most common diseases the locals have to deal with is chronic wounds-wounds that remain in the inflammatory stage for an irregularly long time.

Most of the wounds seen on the Sao Tomian patients' legs and feet had existed for an extensive period of time, Chi was quoted in the book. It is no surprise that repeated inflammation often occurs, as in addition to internal causes such as being malnourished, failing to exercise stable control over their blood sugar levels, and the prevalence of sickle cell anemia, the local people also had to deal with messy environments in addition to poor personal hygiene, he said.

Organized by the Taipei Medical University (台北醫學大學) and the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (國際合作發展基金會), the medical team had received 9,806 outpatient visits and conducted 317 surgeries, while its Taiwan base had offered 24 long-distance consultations.

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