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New hospital aims to keep body and soul together

Amid a boom of hospitals in Taipei County, Buddhist Xindian Tzu Chi Hospital (新店慈濟醫院) will open its doors today, offering an alternative for patients seeking holistic healthcare that helps both the body and the soul.

Although many hospitals are setting up branches in the 3.6 million-strong county, the Buddhist hospital believes that its ample workforce and religious zeal will give it in edge in the competition for patients.

"5,000 well-trained volunteers have been waiting for their turn to serve patients in our Xindian hospital," said the hospital's superintendent Lin Hsin-ron (林欣榮).

Unlike other large hospitals which rely solely on nurses and doctors, volunteers are the building blocks of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Hospital.

"The volunteers will be the bridge between doctors and patients," Lin said. "Patients can talk about their sufferings and anxiety with them."

Unchaining spirits

Lin stressed that the Buddhist Xindian Tzu Chi Hospital will not only treat ailing bodies but also release chained spirits.

"It is what we believe in," he said. "We strive to help patients experience peace of mind during treatment."

Faith and vigorous voluntarism, Lin believes, will help the more than 600-bed hospital carve out a niche in Taipei County's swelling health industry.

Aside from Cardinal Tien Hospital in Hsindian, other private and public hospitals are scrambling to secure a foothold in the County. Cathay General Hospital (國泰綜合醫院) backed by Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), for instance, has completed a hospital with over 400 beds in Hsichih (汐止) City which it plans to open next year.

A larger hospital, the Department of Health-funded Shuang He Hospital (雙和醫院), plans to open its doors in 2008.

Disadvantaged

Health officials say that Taipei County residents are still relatively disadvantaged compared with Taipei City residents.

"Taipei County is a vast administrative area. Every 10,000 people share only 12 emergency beds, the lowest rate among all counties in Taiwan," Liu Shu-yu (劉淑玉), a section chief at Public Health Bureau at Taipei County Government, told a local Chinese-language newspaper recently.

While there are about 52 hospital beds for every 10,000 people in Taipei City, that figure is only 17 for every 10,000 people in the surrounding Taipei County, according to official health statistics.

"Yet we see hospitals swarm in more densely populated cities," Liu said in the report. "We still hope to see more medical staff stationed in remote townships like Pinglin, Shihding, Wulai, Shihmen, Jinshan and Wanli."
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