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 signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS