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Mission of Medicine
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| (Translated by Lorina Cheng) |
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Beginning in 1972, Tzu Chi arranged free
clinics for low-income families twice a week. In 1978, Master
Cheng Yen decided to established a new hospital. In 1979, after
she got permission from her mentor, Dharma Master Yin Shun,
she put her plan into action.
The Tzu Chi General Hospital in Hualien was
opened on August 7, 1986. It was the first hospital in Taiwan
which did not require a security deposit from patients before
they could get treatment. This policy received the support of
the government, and the health department of the Republic of China
later issued a regulation that no hospital in Taiwan could charge
patients this security deposit. Furthermore, the Tzu Chi hospital
allowed all monks and nuns to receive treatment without charge.
The Hualien hospital was only the first step
of the Tzu Chi medical mission. Tzu Chi Dalin General Hospital
started construction in 1996. The Hsintien hospital in Taipei
and the Kuanshan hospital in Taitung both opened in 1999. Plans
were also laid for the Children's Rehabilitation Center and the
Tzu Chi Tantzu hospital in Taichung. Master Cheng Yen hopes that
with a nation-wide Tzu Chi medical network, people throughout
the island can have equal access to good medical resources. Her
ideal is that every town and village can have a hospital with
good, altruistic doctors and nurses.
Tzu Chi charity work abroad originally focused
on helping to provide medical treatment for the poor. The Buddhist
Tzu Chi Free Clinic Center in Alhambra, California, was opened
in 1993 to provide free medical care for financially disadvantaged
people in the community. The establishment of the center was the
first step in extending the medical mission outside of Taiwan.
Later, the Tzu Chi office in Vancouver, Canada, in conjunction
with the Vancouver General Hospital, established the Tzu Chi Institute
for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.. We also have a kidney
dialysis center in Malaysia. In addition to these permanent medical
centers, other Tzu Chi offices around the world frequently provide
free clinics for the poor.
