A 19-year-old woman with mental problems was begging for NT$30 to buy a utility knife so that she could kill herself and no longer be a burden on her impoverished father, local media reported on Thursday.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily reported that the 67-year-old father and his daughter depended on each other.
The family hasn’t been able to pay their health insurance bills for a long time and they owe about NT$70,000 in national health insurance premiums, the paper said.
Upon learning of the family’s dire situation after being informed by members of the public that they had seen the woman kneeling in the street in tears, begging for NT$30 so she could buy a knife and kill herself and not be a burden to her father, Tucheng City’s social welfare department officials found the woman and sent her to Far Eastern Memorial Hospital for medical treatment.
The report said the hospital diagnosed the woman as suffering from schizophrenia and autism.
Despite receiving funds from the government, the father only had NT$100 left after using most of the money to pay the outstanding health insurance premiums.
“I am at a loss and still have no idea how to pay for it all. I am worried about the money that I need to pay. What if I die, can she [my daughter] take care of herself?” the father was quoted as saying in the Apple Daily report.
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