Skinny, by any means necessary

The clinic is a virtual congregation spot for celebrities, and Amy Ho (何麗玲), fiance of Legislator Huang Yi-chiao (黃義交) and a well-known Taipei socialite, is a former patient. Ho said the cocktail treatment helped her achieve her ideal 55cm waist and helped her diabetic mother lose 11kg. Ho is now a major investor in the new Long Spring New Century Hospital, and is managing the hospital's business.

What women really want

Liu, who takes patients night and day, sees his mission as helping women fulfill their dreams to attain a perfect body.

"A lot of women come for treatment because their husbands are having affairs. They want to be slimmer to save their marriage. I also have patients who said I have to make their boring lives more colorful," Liu said.

Liu faults modern medicine for neglecting the needs and feelings of women, and cites this as his reason for switching his specialization from gynecology to treatment of what he calls "morbid obesity."

But the government is not particularly enthusiastic about Liu's vocation to "help" women achieve the "perfect" body.

Chen Shu-kung (陳樹功), director of the Food Sanitation Bureau under the Department of Health, described Liu's weight loss treatment as a grey area between beauty enhancement and medical treatment that is currently not regulated by the government. First, he said, obesity is not officially listed as a disease, and therefore treatment of Liu's sort is not covered under the national health insurance system. Second, the effectiveness and, indeed, the legality of the medicine used is still in question.

"Some of the medicines used in the treatment were not developed for the purpose of weight-control. So it is doubtful whether it's appropriate or legal to prescribe the medicine," Chen said.

Liu and Ho are unfazed. They see themselves as pioneers in their field and together they have formed Long Spring Biotech Corp to develop new medicines and health foods. His "cocktail medicine" is now available on the general market in Taiwan -- labeled as a health food, not as medicine -- and will be distributed in Hong Kong and Singapore next month.

"In the future, we will unveil products from our new research, like slim water, slim instant noodles, all with an eye on the Asian and China market" Liu said. From the crowds outside his clinics, clearly many Taiwanese women are cheering Liu on.