A top health official vowed yesterday to look into the alleged health-insurance scams unveiled in a recently published book by an anonymous author.
"I know the corruption cases revealed by the book have already existed for a long time. But I do not know how prevalent these situations are," said Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), Director of the Department of Health (DOH), in a press conference.
The book Corruptions in Our Health System (醫界黑幕), published last month, depicts in detail what the author claimed were "common" illegal practices by doctors trying to gain more money from the national health insurance program.
These practices include falsifying medical records, conducting unneeded examinations or unnecessary surgeries and inflating costs.
The book also noted the prevalence of quacks and so-called doctors who obtained their licenses illegally.
The book, published under the nom de plume of Huang Chon-yu (黃振宇), came into the spotlight on Oct. 22 when it was featured in a report by a local Chinese-language newspaper.
Wu Yung-tung (吳運東), President of the Taiwan Medical Association, said that an investigation had failed to reveall the author's real name or identity.
In the introduction to the book, the author claimed his (or her) purpose in writing the book was not to blemish the image of doctors.
"I want to make the public understand more about the dark side of our health system," the author wrote.
According to the book, if patients are injured and receive cuts shorter than 5cm long, some doctors may record that the cuts are actually longer than 5cm.
That's because the Health Insurance Bureau pays the doctors more for treating cuts that are longer than 5cm.
In addition, the author wrote, some doctors may exaggerate light cases. For example, a patient with breathing difficulties and dizziness could be reported as suffering from asthma and concussion.
On hearing of this, Twu invited the presidents of Taiwan's major medical associations to declare their willingness to cooperate with the DOH's drive to discover the doctors and end their scandalous and corrupt practices.
"I cannot allow these situations to go on," he vowed.
Twu said doctors should not regard money as the only purpose of their careers. "Their primary concern should be patients' lives," he said.
Responding to the accusations in the book, Wu said some passages in the book were deliberately made up to draw readers' interest.
"I guarantee that most doctors keep high moral standards," Wu said.
As for how to deal with the doctors' corrupt practices, Wu proposed that changes need to be made in medical education.
"Apart from their professional knowledge, morality lessons should be given to medical students, too," Wu said.
Meanwhile, Huang Fu-yuan (黃富源), President of Taiwan Pediatric Association, encouraged doctors to report their colleagues who engage in such illegal practices.
"Only doctors can detect doctors' improper practices. It is difficult for common people to discover doctors' improper practices," said Huang.
He went on to suggest that the anonymous author knows about these things because he or she has a professional medical background.
But Huang added that doctors need more encouragement, not just better supervision.
"Strict surveillance would only lower the morale of good doctors," he said.
The public may call the following toll-free number if they wish to report improper practices by a doctor: 0800-212-369.
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