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Updated Thursday, May 28, 2009 9:29 am TWN, The China Post news staff

Fake doctors discovered at 17 hospitals and clinics

TAINAN, Taiwan -- A cartel of fake doctors whom were hired to work part-time shifts and emergency rooms in Central and Southern Taiwan have been caught, the Tainan District Prosecutors Office announced yesterday. Five men have been arrested by prosecutors in the island's first fake doctors scandal involving seventeen medium to large-sized hospitals and clinics. Two hospitals have admitted that they knew they were hiring bogus doctors, but did so in a bid to save on medical fees.

According to prosecutors, the cartel were introduced to various hospitals and clinics by Hung Ming-ching, who purported to be a doctor stationed at the Lan Yu Health Station. Lanyu is

a small island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan proper. Prosecutors investigated the cartel's activities earlier this month.

However, the head of Taitung County's Public Health Bureau Lu Chiao-yang said that Hung is not a doctor with the Lan Yu Health Station, saying that the prosecutors are mistaken.

The other four men who were arrested by prosecutors yesterday are Lung Chi-hung, Yan Jui-teng, Huang Tsu-ho, and Chen Wu-hung. The men will be indicted on charges of fraud, forgery of documents, and breach of medical practitioners' rules. A person who is not a medical practitioner but engages in medical activities may be imprisoned for six months to five years, and fined NT$300,000 to NT$1.5 million under laws regulating medical practitioners.

The cartel's fraud dates back to six or seven years ago. They were introduced by Hung to 17 hospitals and clinics, and generally worked unpopular shifts that other doctors refused to take. The number of patients they treated numbered in the thousands. Members of the cartel studied biology or health sciences, and lacked proper medical licenses.

Although two hospitals have admitted that they had knowledge of the scam, other hospitals and clinics implicated in the scandal have been quick to deny they had any knowledge of the cartel's fraud. Members of the cartel were found to have used the seals of other registered doctors on medical documents, raising questions as to whether they did so with the knowledge of the hospitals and clinics involved.

Qiu Zong He Hospital in Kaohsiung City adamantly denied that it had any knowledge of the cartel's activities, saying that Hung introduced other members of the cartel as his former classmates. Lung worked in the hospital for over a year,

working one shift per week, and has been fired by the hospital.

Jian Ren Hospital, also in Kaohsiung City refused to comment on the matter. The Changhua Christian Hospital admitted that they hired bogus doctors, but said that the bogus doctors they hired all produced practitioners certificates. Fonglin Veterans Hospital also denied it had any prior knowledge of

the scam.

The other hospitals and clinics involved in the scandal are the Pan-Citizen Hospital in Pingtung, Dadong Hospital in Kaohsiung County, HKH Hospital in Tainan County, the Department of Health's (DOH) Tainan Hospital in Tainan County, Golden Hospital in Pintung, Linhai Hospital in Kaohsiung City, Lee's Medical Corporation in Miaoli, and St. Joseph's Hospital in Yunlin.

Responding to the scandal, the DOH said that in addition to charging the members of the cartel, investigations into whether each hospital and clinic implicated in the scandal had fulfilled its responsibilities in the hiring process would be conducted. Any hospital found to have failed its duties would be dealt with accordingly, the DOH said.

Although fake medical practitioners have previously been discovered, this is the first time they have infiltrated medium to large-sized hospitals. This scandal follows the 2006 and April scandals where it was discovered that medical practitioners were cheating on national health insurance fees.

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Comments

May 28, 2009 tsungswang@

Funny that this only happens in Southern Taiwan. One can now see the mentality of the people living in those areas. Most of them call for absolute independence for Taiwan, but are not honest with each other and most importantly the welfare of the public in general. Sounds very much like the former leader surnamed Chen, who is now in prison. Those fake doctors should be punished to the maximum extend of the law, thereby being an example to anyone thinking about following the same path.

May 28, 2009 mcwizard@

My Fellow Taiwanese,

Is there anything that is too shameful that we would not do to make money? Is this what being Taiwanese is all about?

It is certainly past the time when we should take a difficult look at ourselves, and try to make some changes. Maybe we should start teaching Confucianism at home and at school again. Maybe we need to enforce the rule of law and be held very accountable for our actions.

Shamefully and without regard,

McWizard

May 28, 2009 xo18123456@

Taiwan had fake doctors! This is surely shocking news to the citizens of Taiwan! If the hospital hired a bogus doctor, how many people were mistreated?


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