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Airborne service denies taking money

The Ministry of the Interior's National Airborne Service Corps denied a report in the United Daily News yesterday that it had charged the family of a premature baby NT$13,000 for a service it never carried out.

Command center Acting Director Cheng Jung-feng (鄭榮豐) said the corps was requested on Tuesday to fly the three-month-old baby from Penghu to Taipei for emergency treatment but that the mission was not carried out.

Cheng said Penghu Tri-Service General Hospital had charged the baby's family NT$13,000 in advance, but that the corps had not received the money.

Cheng said the corps had suggested that the infant be flown to a hospital in Kaohsiung instead. This had resulted in a deadlock, he said.

After President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) learned of the situation on Thursday morning, he spoke with Defense Minister Lee Tien-yu (李天羽) and they agreed to arrange for a Lockheed C-130 Hercules military aircraft to be used to transport the baby.

The sick infant, who weighed only 675g when she was born at Penghu Tri-Service General Hospital and who now weighs just 1.4kg, was flown to Tri-Service's main hospital in Taipei on Thursday.

The baby, who was accompanied by a Tri-Service medical team and her mother during the airlift, received treatment for collapsed lungs, retina problems and septicemia.
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