A dozen mental health groups on Monday criticized Kaohsiung’s Lungfatang (龍發堂) psychiatric care facility, alleging inhumane conditions and outbreaks of infectious diseases at the sanatorium.
The Alliance for the Mentally Ill and other groups started a petition urging public action against Lungfatang, after the Kaohsiung Department of Health earlier that day said the sanatorium failed multiple health inspections this year.
The department said that from July to last month it conducted several inspections, which discovered 32 cases of amebic dysentery and nine cases of tuberculosis at the sanatorium.
Overcrowding, inadequate staff and uncleanliness have contributed to the occurrence of disease clusters at Lungfatang, the department said, adding that the sanatorium — an eight-story complex, including a basement — houses about 500 residents, but has fewer than 20 staff, none of whom are qualified medical professionals.
The residents have an average living space of 4 ping (13.2m2), it said.
The facility does not have enough toilets, while the ones it does have are antiquated, with some consisting of open gutters and others lacking flushing mechanisms, resulting in the unsanitary conditions, it added.
The department said it has fined the sanatorium nearly NT$700,000 (US$23,341) for contravening the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) and the Mental Health Act (精神衛生法), as well as food safety and sanitation regulations.
At a news conference held by the civil groups, department official Su Shu-fang (蘇淑芳) said the conditions at the facility were “shocking.”
She said that during one official inspection she saw a patient who was tethered to his bed with chains and wearing no clothes on his lower body pacing over puddles of urine.
“I have worked in mental health for more than 30 years and I have never seen such inhumane treatment of a patient,” Su said.
Lungfatang suffers from a chronic shortage of mental health experts and sanitation management for its many residents, alliance president Lee Li-chuan (李麗娟) said.
Patients have limited access to modern medicines or therapy, the crude accommodations offer no privacy and the facility has repeatedly failed sanitation and health inspections, making it a hotbed of disease, she said.
Families who have left their loved ones at Lungfatang should immediately relocate them to licensed mental health facilities so that they can receive the therapy and rehabilitation they deserve, she added.
The department said it is aware the sanatorium has antiqued facilities and low-quality care.
A project to transform the facility into an elderly care center is in limbo, because the sanatorium’s management has refused to modernize equipment, it added.
Lungfatang yesterday responded to the allegations, saying that it does not accept the criticism leveled against it, because it was “blown out of proportion.”
The Buddhist sanatorium’s abbess, self-styled Master Xinshan (心善法師), said she apologizes for the outbreaks of disease at Lungfatang, but added that NT$3.2 million has been spent to improve facilities since July.
She said the man cited by Su was tethered to his bed because he had a violent tantrum over his lunch being delayed by the inspection, adding that the treatment was “not inhumane.”
She denied charges that Lungfatang refused to comply with the law, saying the Kaohsiung City Government did not grant it a permit to rezone the property, which is needed to change its operation.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS