Neurologist Lin Chun-chieh (林俊杰) and four brokers were detained yesterday, while judicial authorities summoned 15 people for questioning in connection with alleged medical fraud said to have removed about NT$60 million (US$1.9 million) from government coffers.
Prosecutors said that the central figure in the case was Lin, who heads the Peripheral Neurology Division in the Department of Neurology at Taipei’s Tri-Service General Hospital, a major military hospital and medical teaching center run by the Ministry of National Defense.
Lin is suspected of fabricating diagnosis documents and charging NT$15,000 per case, while patients and brokers colluded to collect increased National Health Insurance benefits, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Judicial officers on Thursday raided Lin’s office at the hospital and other locations.
Lin is considered a medical expert, having published research papers on the treatment of dementia, sleep and pain disorders, as well as other neurological conditions.
An investigation has been ongoing for about a year after prosecutors received complaints and found irregularities in Lin’s paperwork, office spokesman Chang Chieh-chin (張介欽) said.
Chang said that evidence indicated Lin colluded with four brokers acting as go-betweens with patients from June 2014, with 300 diagnoses being marked as bogus.
The four brokers, surnamed Chen (陳), Mao (毛), Chang (張) and Lee (李), denied involvement, but gave conflicting testimonies, prosecutors said.
The office said they posed a flight risk and might tamper with evidence if released on bail.
The ministry released a statement urging the people being questioned to give truthful testimonies and cooperate with the investigation.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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