Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday met with winners of this year's Medical Dedication Awards to express her appreciation to their selfless devotion to health care endeavors.

Organized by the Health, Welfare and Environment Foundation, the awards allow Taiwanese society to see a group of medical professionals who quietly devote themselves to medicine without asking for rewards, Tsai noted.

The winners' stories also allow the government to see areas where improvement is needed, she said.

This year's winners included physicians Kao Yang-wei and Chiu Meng-chao and nurse Lin Hsiu-li, who serve in outlying rural regions where medical resources are lacking.

Also on the list were Marie Lin, director of the Transfusion Medicine Laboratory at Mackay Memorial Hospital, who created Taiwan's blood donation system; Yen Chun-tso, a pioneer in the use of methadone substitution therapy for drug addicts; and dentist Lo Chieh-shan, who has promoted at-home dental service for physically disabled individuals.

Others included Tai Tong-yuan, a National Taiwan University Hospital physician who has been dedicated to diabetes control and prevention for 47 years; and Lee Po-chang, an expert in kidney transplants who has helped the government establish an organ donation and transplant registration center.

Catholic priests Andres Diaz de Rabago from Spain, who taught at National Taiwan University's medical school for many years, and Cattaneo Davide Angelo from Italy, who has served more than 50 years at Saint Mary's Hospital Luodong, Yilan, were the only two foreign recipients.

The other winner was the Liver Disease Prevention and Treatment Research Foundation, which is committed to promoting liver disease awareness in Taiwan.