Taipei, June 6 (CNA) Palau Health Minister Emais Roberts said Tuesday during a visit to a hospital in Taipei that he expressed support for Taiwan's attendance at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May and will continue to support Taiwan's bid to attend the event.

Taiwan was excluded from this year's WHA meeting due to objections from China.

Roberts said that this year was the first time he had attended the WHA since he assumed the post as health minister in February and that he was determined to voice support for Taiwan after learning that the country did not receive an invitation to the WHA.

Given Taiwan's high quality health care environment, Roberts said there is no reason for its exclusion from the WHA and that health care is a basic human right.

Roberts arrived in Taiwan earlier in the day and visited patients from his country who are receiving medical treatment in Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital under an exchange program between the two countries.

The hospital dispatches doctors and a mobile medical mission to provide medical care in Palau every year. Over the past 20 years, they have provided care to about 4,000 people in the country, according to a hospital spokesman.

Palau has declared a dengue fever epidemic, with nearly 200 confirmed cases since late last year, and three deaths.

The spokesman also said the hospital will donate three intravenous infusion pumps and 240 canisters of mosquito repellent to Palau and will send an eight-member mobile medical mission to the country from June 14-27 to help cope with the epidemic.

(By Chang Ming-hsuan and Evelyn Kao)
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