Life

Documentary spotlights Taiwan medical services

Plastic surgery to reconstruct two fingers lost to an Egyptian surgeon amid the Arab Spring uprisings is among the medical miracles showcased in a documentary on Taiwan’s international health services. (Courtesy of National Geographic Channel)

• Publication Date：06/27/2012
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  Kwangyin Liu

A documentary film featuring four remarkable cases of medical treatment in Taiwan will soon be broadcast to a worldwide audience, National Geographic Channel said June 26.

“Taiwan’s Medical Miracle,” a year-long joint project between the channel and the ROC Department of Health, is the first such effort to be undertaken by an international broadcaster, DOH sources said.

One case in the 60-minute film involves a 3-year-old Malaysian girl with a blood disorder that reduces the production of hemoglobin, who was cured with an umbilical cord blood transplant. In another instance, a 1-year-old Filipino girl underwent a liver transplant to treat a life-threatening blockage of the tubes that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder.

An Egyptian surgeon who lost two fingers to a stray bullet in the Arab Spring sought help at New Taipei City’s Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, and was able to go back to work six months after microsurgery reconstructed them.

An American woman who experienced years of back pain from spinal disc herniation saw her symptoms relieved following treatment at Taipei Medical University Hospital.

“The best thing about Taiwan’s medical care is that it’s seen as a service industry, in which every patient is treated with the greatest respect and love,” said the film’s director Shih Tzu-de.

“If we had more time and resources, we would have covered more procedures, such as artificial insemination, knee joint replacement and cardiac surgery,” he added.

The English-language version of the documentary premiered in Australia and New Zealand June 23, and will soon be broadcast to an expected audience of 200 million in 44 countries and regions, according to National Geographic. The Mandarin edition airs in Taiwan July 1. (THN)

Write to Kwangyin Liu at kwangyin.liu@gmail.com