About Tzu Chi > The Origins of Tzu Chi Taiwan
 
 

The First Free Clinic

  
     
 

The First Free Clinic...

On September 10, 1972, a free clinic was set up in Hualien with the assistance of Dr. Chang You-chuan and several other medical personnel. They kindly provided their services free of charge twice a week until 1986, when the Tzu Chi General Hospital was opened. In those 15 years, more than 140,000 poor patients were treated.
   
 

The service was only able to treat colds, long-term malnutrition, high blood pressure, etc. Patients with more serious illnesses still had to be sent to hospitals in Taipei for treatment. Master Cheng Yen realized that such limited service was not sufficient to meet the needs of the area, and that it was necessary to build a hospital to really benefit more poor people.