Beginning in 1972, Tzu Chi arranged free clinics for low-income families twice a week. In 1978, Master Cheng Yen decided to established a new hospital. In 1979, after she got permission from her mentor, Dharma Master Yin Shun, she put her plan into action.
The Tzu Chi General Hospital in Hualien was opened on August 7, 1986. It was the first hospital in Taiwan which did not require a security deposit from patients before they could get treatment. This policy received the support of the government, and the health department of the Republic of China later issued a regulation that no hospital in Taiwan could charge patients this security deposit. Furthermore, the Tzu Chi hospital allowed all monks and nuns to receive treatment without charge.
The Hualien hospital was only the first step of the Tzu Chi medical mission. Tzu Chi Dalin General Hospital started construction in 1996. The Hsintien hospital in Taipei and the Kuanshan hospital in Taitung both opened in 1999. Plans were also laid for the Children's Rehabilitation Center and the Tzu Chi Tantzu hospital in Taichung. Master Cheng Yen hopes that with a nation-wide Tzu Chi medical network, people throughout the island can have equal access to good medical resources. Her ideal is that every town and village can have a hospital with good, altruistic doctors and nurses.
Tzu Chi charity work abroad originally focused on helping to provide medical treatment for the poor. The Buddhist Tzu Chi Free Clinic Center in Alhambra, California, was opened in 1993 to provide free medical care for financially disadvantaged people in the community. The establishment of the center was the first step in extending the medical mission outside of Taiwan. Later, the Tzu Chi office in Vancouver, Canada, in conjunction with the Vancouver General Hospital, established the Tzu Chi Institute for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.. We also have a kidney dialysis center in Malaysia. In addition to these permanent medical centers, other Tzu Chi offices around the world frequently provide free clinics for the poor.
慈濟功德會於一九七二年,便開始在花蓮市舉辦每週兩天的義診活動,服務貧病民眾。一九七八年證嚴上人計畫進一步蓋醫院,這個構想於一九七九獲得印順導師的贊同後,便著手進行籌畫。
一九八六年八月十七日花蓮慈濟醫院正式啟用。它首先開創了病患「免保證金制度」,此項改革立刻獲得政府的贊許,衛生署遂於該年十二月頒發命令,自一九八七年起全國所有醫院比照辦理。此外,對於出家弘法的僧侶,慈濟醫院提供完全免費的醫療服務,也是另一項創舉。
對證嚴上人而言,花蓮慈濟醫院只是整個醫療志業的初步奠基。一九九六年十月十三日動土的慈濟大林醫院,及規畫中的慈濟潭子醫院、兒童復健發展中心……等,也都只是階段性目標。建立慈濟全國醫療網,讓全國的百姓普遍平等地享受醫療資源,每個地方都可以有醫院,並有良醫、良護救助病人,這才是證嚴上人最終的理想。
慈濟海外慈善工作,原本就有協助貧民接受醫療的服務。一九九三年美國佛教慈濟義診中心的正式啟業,主動為社區各族裔貧困病患提供免費醫療,更是海外醫療志業具體拓展的第一步。之後慈濟溫哥華分會與溫哥華中央醫院合作成立的慈濟傳統醫學中心,馬來西亞的洗腎中心,都是慈濟海外常設的醫療志業單位,其他各地也經常舉辦義診活動。
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