A luxurious postpartum care center in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) is not registered with the city’s Department of Health and misappropriated emergency beds from the affiliated West Garden Hospital, Taipei City Councilor Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) of the Democratic Progressive Party said yesterday, urging the department to toughen the regulations.
The Eonway Health Maintenance Center, which charges about NT$8,000 a day, is famous because of its celebrity clients, including talkshow hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣), better known as Little S (小S).
Hsu said that the postpartum care center has not registered with the department since it was found illegally operating seven years ago, accusing the city government of covering up for the center.
The center also used the hospital’s beds for its clients and applied for medical subsidies from the Bureau of National Health by saying medical treatment was provided to clients.
“Has the city government been sleeping for the past seven years? Would any other medical center or hospital get such special treatment?” she asked.
According to city regulations on fees for postpartum care, the maximum charge for a room should not exceed NT$5,700 per day and meals should not cost more than NT$800 per day.
The center, which has 21 beds per floor, has made a profit of nearly NT$300 million (US$10 million) over the past seven years by overcharging its customers, she said.
Taipei City Department of Heath Commissioner Lin Chi-hung (林奇宏) acknowledged that the center had failed to register with the department, but said it had presented a relocation plan with a promise to complete the registration procedures by next year.
“We did not cover up for the care center, and we’ve been instructing both the center and the hospital to improve the situation,” Lin said.
The department would ask the center to return the beds to the hospital within three months, he said.
The center had violated the Medical Care Act (醫療法) for failing to follow regulations and by overcharging customers, and it would be fined up to NT$250,000, he said.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said he would ask the Department of Government Ethics to look into the case and check whether there were any irregularities in the department’s handling of the center’s registration.
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