In the middle of August, the GMISS program formed a mission team with Taipei Hospital to visit Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, for a series of medical aid including voluntary medical consultation, donation of medical equipment, assistance with equipment assembly, and related maintenance training.
The team members included GMISS Director Yi-You, Huang（Director, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, NTU Hospital）, Chung-Ming, Lu（Section Chief, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, NTU Hospital）and Tzong-Lin, Yang（Senior Engineer, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, NTU Hospital）. The destination was the Second General Hospital in Ulaanbaatar- a sister hospital of Taipei Hospital since 2005.
Two months before the team arrived, they had evaluated local needs and delivered to the hospital various donated medical equipment, including 7 Viewboxes, X-ray（2 films, 3 films, 4 films）, a dental X-ray system, an ultrasonic nebulizer, a water bath for rehabilitation, an infant intensive care system, a portable ultrasound device, 2 hemodialysis units, 6 bedside monitors, 15 wheelchairs, and 20,400 surgical face masks with earloops. A number of the equipment had to be altered to comply with standard local voltage, and it had taken GMISS staff nearly a month of experiment and investigation to complete the necessary modifications and finish the donation process.
On August 19th, the team set off on their journey in the early morning. After long hours of travel by air and on the road, they finally reached Ulaanbaatar one hour past midnight. It was a typical chilly night in the highlands; however, the team? safe arrival seemed to have lit a bright light in the darkness, warming the hearts of the members as they anticipated the week ahead.
Mongolia won its independence from China on March 13th, 1921. Surrounded by land, it is the highest country in the world. During the trip, the members assisted staff from the recipient hospital with medical equipment assembly and provided related training on maintenance. In addition, they also came into close encounter with local life. Outside of the town center, an endless sky stretched above a vast prairie dotted with individual Mongolian yurts, where the inhabitants are mostly nomads. The living conditions are very primitive and medical resources scarce.
Living across this vast land, the locals can only look to themselves at times of illness!?Section Chief Lu said with a heavy heart.
It is only by education that they can to walk out of poverty and to step onto the way of civilization,?said Director Huang.
The vision of the program is to enhance the accessibility of health care services regardless of race, color, religion, or geography. The contribution of the medical mission may be limited. It has, nonetheless, brought the GMISS one step closer realizing the vision. The journey of future medical aid is long, and the program is dedicated to providing continuous substantial assistance and spreading love the corners of the world where there is the most need.