While they have decided to donate their year-end bonuses to help charity groups, the top leaders will also continue their shopping tours around the island by spending their vouchers on consumer goods to put a check on the economic downturn.

Ma went to several markets in Taipei County and southwestern Chiayi County to purchase candies and seafood yesterday for the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays after doling out money for apparel and other necessities. Interior Minister Liao Liou-yi reminded the public of bringing necessary documents, including their identification card, shopping voucher notification, and personal chop to collect the vouchers and suggested that they pick up the vouchers at the time advised on the notification slip to help the process run more smoothly.

Liao reiterated his belief that the NT$85.7 billion program will provide a needed boost to Taiwan's stagnant economy.

The unprecedented scheme, under which every citizen will receive NT$3,600 worth of consumption vouchers, is aimed at bringing happiness to everyone and welcoming in the Chinese New Year, Liao said.

“I hope that the voucher program will bring good luck to everyone and will exert a multiplier effect to boost spending and revitalize our economy,” Liao said.

Asked how he will use his shopping vouchers, the minister said he would buy a nice birthday present that is made in Taiwan for his mother.

He said a total of 14,202 voucher distribution stations will be open across the country from 8 a.m. through 5 p.m. and he reassured local residents that anybody lined up by 4:59 p.m. will be able to collect their vouchers.

Liao has called 21 city mayors and country magistrates, as well as 49 district directors and 319 township heads to ask them to personally supervise the stations and make sure the distribution process runs without a hitch.

All local-level governments and private enterprises have stepped up publicity campaigns to lure people to use the vouchers in their districts and shops with unprecedented incentives.

Even public and private hospitals around Taiwan have been telling the public that they will accept consumption vouchers from patients as payment for their medical bills beginning today.

Medical institutions had hesitated to accept the vouchers because they are not for-profit enterprises and cannot directly exchange them for cash at local banks.

That resistance collapsed on Friday morning, however, when National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital decided that they would let patients use the vouchers to pay for all medical charges.

A number of hospitals decided to follow suit later in the day, including Mackay Memorial Hospital, Tri-Service General Hospital, all 12 Taipei municipal hospitals, all six Tzu-Chi Buddhist General Hospitals, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and its branches, Veterans General Hospital in Taichung and Kaohsiung, Cathay General Hospital, and Shin Kong Wu Ho Su Memorial Hospital.

Patients must remember, however, that they won't receive change if they use the NT$200 or NT$500 vouchers to pay a bill that is less than the value of the voucher presented, said Wang Chia-wen, chairman of the Taiwan Medical Association.

According to Wang, local clinics are free to decide whether or not to accept the vouchers because they may have trouble converting them to cash.

Though the bigger hospitals cannot cash them at banks, they plan to use the vouchers to buy supplies from pharmaceutical or equipment vendors for the same purpose of spurring economic activities.

At the smaller-scale clinics, physicians may have to spend the collected vouchers on their own personal needs, he noted.

Wang suggested that patients obtain detailed information before planning to use the vouchers at local hospitals or clinics.