“Of all the hardships in life, that of sickness is the toughest”.  From her wealth of experience in charity work and in helping the poor, Master Cheng Yen has discovered that sickness creates poverty and poverty creates sickness. Convinced that all lives are equal, the Master wanted to tend to the sick in Eastern Taiwan to eliminate the problem of poverty. In 1979, hoping to spread the spirit and wisdom of Buddhism, she called for the construction of a hospital, marking the first step of Tzu Chi’s medical mission. Setting a precedent in Taiwan, the hospital requires no deposit fees, because saving lives and making medical services available to all is its first concern.

Based on the tenet of “respecting lives”, the hospital’s core concern is treating patients. The hospital aims to extend its holistic approach of “healing illnesses, healing people, and healing the heart” into the community by introducing home visits and providing medical services to members of the community who need them.  Following the establishment of the Tzu Chi Medical Network and the back-up force of the Tzu Chi International Medical Association, it is hoped that medical aid can be extended further to the poor and less fortunate in other parts of the world.

In 1999, a team of skilled and dedicated medical practitioners in Singapore set up the Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA).  However, as Singapore has a very established welfare system and an advanced healthcare system, TIMA decided instead to focus on providing medical help to neighbouring countries with limited medical resources.  TIMA has since concentrated its efforts on helping the people of Indonesian islands such as Batam, Bintan and Karimun, and has assisted in free clinics held in places like Jakarta, Pekan Baru and the Philippines.

01 August 2004 marked the opening of the Singapore Tzu Chi Free Clinic. Every Sunday morning the clinic provides free internal medication and dental services to its long-term beneficiaries and the elderly people who live alone in the Chinatown area.  In addition, the clinic offers its care to the general public from time to time, by holding medical talks and health checks.

True to the philosophy of respecting lives, Tzu Chi volunteers make use of every opportunity to offer a ray of hope to those who are sick.  In recent years, there have been many medical cases which have come to the Singapore Branch’s attention in different ways – through medical missions, information received from other organisations, and the media.  Some cases include the following: Novemthree, the world’s youngest patient diagnosed with a huge facial tumour known as gigantiform cementoma; the Phua siblings in Yishun who suffer from Hallervorden Spatz Syndrome, which affects their central nervous system; Dedy, a youth diagnosed with primary lymphoedema, which results in his bloated leg, and so on.  These patients were sometimes transferred to the care of Tzu Chi Malacca Branch, and some even received treatment from the medical team in Taiwan.  They benefited greatly from Tzu Chi’s help, and the organisation’s medical teams around the world often work together – supporting and sharing resources with one another, thus enabling them to help the people who require their attention.  This has not only allowed Tzu Chi to fulfil the vision of sending love to all corners of the world, but also allows Singapore’s medical mission to transcend international boundaries.