Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou on Sunday called for further cooperation in medical and other health care issues between Chinese mainland and Taiwan amid Japan's devastating earthquake and improved cross-Straits relations.

Ma made the remarks at a ceremony celebrating the founding of an association for cross-Straits medical cooperation which was initiated by medical community in Taiwan according to an agreement reached by the mainland and Taiwan.

The mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and its counterpart in Taiwan Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) signed the agreement for medical and public health issues cooperation in December last year.

Ma said that the association founded by Taiwan's civil medical organizations was very essential for communications with the mainland in sharing medical emergency information.

At the founding ceremony, the association had nearly 300 members coming from Taiwan's seven medical groups ranging from western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine to dental and pharmaceutical.

The director of the association said it would promote academic and practice exchanges with mainland's colleagues to benefit people on both sides of the Straits.

The association was founded at a very meaningful time as people living in Taiwan have paid greater attention to health conditions after radioactive leakage occurred in Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Ma Ying-jeou also hoped that the association could help mainland and Taiwan conduct more cooperation in disaster prevention and medical treatment for disaster relief.