Four patients of Taipei's Lungfatang (龍發堂) psychiatric care hospital, who fled the facility, convened a press conference to accuse authorities at the facility of physical abuse.
Accompanied by psychiatrists and legislators, one of the former patients said they risked their life to escape the Buddhist-run asylum in the hopes that no more patients will be sent to what they called the "black jail."
"Some of us are stripped and tied to our beds with iron chains in the so-called `stockade' (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Another patient claimed the asylum charges each patient's family NT$2.5 million, and asked the families to purchase statues of Buddha for NT$300,000 each or even sedan chairs for transporting gods that cost NT$500,000.
"Young female patients are summoned by the abbot, Shih Kai -fong (
"Mental patients have the right to be treated humanely," said legislator Wang Hsueh-fong (
Legislator Yu Cheng-tao (
In response, Master Hsinhsien (
Officials in charge of the facility have not yet responded publicly to the accusations, but Yu said Lungfatang officials plan to call a press conference today to answer the allegations.
An official at the Department of Health said yesterday that current laws are not able to regulate the facility, because the law only regulates medical organizations, while Lungfatang is a run as a religious institution.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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