After the breaking of a crime ring in which healthy people were obtaining certifications of disablement and the benefits that went with such status, The Ministry of the Interior yesterday said that proof of disablement was based on medical assessments and that hospitals or medical practitioners should be responsible where such proof had been obtained under false pretenses.
"This [certification] is give out by the Ministry of the Interior, only when an application is supported by a medical assessment. Therefore those who wrote up the assessments should be held responsible," for the fraud, Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) told legislators yesterday.
On Wednesday, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's Office cracked down on a scam whereby people in good health had teamed up with physicians and hospital administrators to obtain false medical reports entitling them to disabled status and benefits
According to Chinese-language reports, a total of 19 suspects were arrested on Wednesday, while 200 others were discovered to be involved with this ring, which operated nationally.
The ring had been operating since 2002 and even recruited through newspaper or Internet ads looking for "business associates."
After receiving certification as disabled, each applicant could receive up to NT$60,000 of reimbursements from the government for doctor's appointments, from which kickbacks would be given to doctors or hospital staff who were involved in the scam.
For a person to obtain certification for disablement, a person must first obtain a disabled medical assessment form from a local township office, then take the form to an authorized medical center approved by the Department of Health for a physical assessment.
After the assessment has been completed, the paperwork will be forwarded to a local health department for approval, then routed to a local bureau of social affairs which would issue the certification to the applicant.
Su yesterday also proposed to look into the possibility of having social workers at various bureaus of social affairs keep in touch with disabled certificate recipients in order to make sure that social welfare was really going to those in need.
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