While Happy Mount Colony is now a home for the mentally challenged, the center faces some of the same predicaments today as lepers faced in the past -- a shortage of quality facilities and financial support.
"There is a severe deficiency in the care offered to the mentally disabled in Taiwan. Cases of patient abuse or mistreatment are frequently heard. The issue deserves more public attention," said Chan Teh-yung (
According to a report released by the Ministry of the Interior in 1997, there are currently 21,117 out of 391,060 mentally challenged individuals in Taiwan who need residential care.
The country's 88 in-house care centers, however, can only accommodate 7,756 individuals.
Happy Mount, while known for the quality of its facilities and care, faces the same problem.
"Though we are willing to attend to more people, the current lack of space and budgetary restraints have seriously hindered our ability to do our job," Chan said.
Happy Mount has already exceeded its current capacity of some 105 patients. In 1998 it made a proposal to add a sixth floor to the facility, but funding has become a problem, Chan said.
"Fund-raising was never easy for any organization of this sort, but the situation has deteriorated in the wake of the 921 earthquake," Chan said.
The proposed new facility will be a six-floor compound with 202 beds, a vocational training center, language training laboratories and recreational equipment, according to Chan.
"An estimated NT$300 million will be needed to get the construction started. The Ministry of the Interior has promised to stump up NT$170 million, adding to the NT$40 million we have already raised, but we are still short of NT$90 million," Chan said.
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