Dr. Shi-zai Chen 陳時宰 ( 1928~ )

He was born In Tianjhong. He studied in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry in National Chung Hsing University, but his father, Dr. Jing Sung Chen, needs someone to take over his hospital, and later he transferred to study in the Department of Medicals in National Taiwan University. After he graduated from college in the year of 1954, he served as a physician in Taipei, Taichung, and Changhua sequentially. Five years later, he went abroad to the States for further study on Medicals and got the certificate of general practitioners. Many well-known foreign hospitals competed to hire him. Originally he wanted to stay in Taiwan, but the post-war Taiwan society was not in an order and many physicians came back from Japan to work in Taiwan. So he saved around one hundred dollars (4000 NT dollars, a rich amount then) to work in the States. He worked in the States for five years but his father’s hospital needs someone to take over, so he came back to run the hospital with his father. He also brought the latest equipment, such as X-ray device, and modern medical skills. Moreover, they build up a more modern and larger building as the clinic, named Jing Sung Clinic.

It was not easy to see a doctor in the country at that time, and it didn’t need to mention staying in hospital for observation. To solve this problem, Dr. Shi-zai Chen build up a large-scale and modern branch next to the old Jing Sung Hospital. Inside the new branch added the wards for caring patients. Then there are many intractable disease such as diabetes, acute hepatitis, etc., and meanwhile, these diseases are difficult to be diagnosed, so they set up a special diagnostic room, inside of which there are a number of advanced instruments back from the United States or Japan, such as x-ray, ECG, etc., so long as the patients in demand got into the diagnostic laboratory examination, patients will soon know exactly what they suffered. And after hospitalization, their illness can get a great improvement.

Practice Style: 

Dr. Chen saw the patients in the day time. Since he had good medical skills and medical ethics, his well-known reputation spread far and wide. In the early society, infectious disease out broke, and chronic disease was common, so the patients coming to see Dr. Chen for diagnoses were up to two hundred people in a day. Dr. Chen often worked late until eleven pm. But he did not take a rest. He always took ward rounds in the middle of the night. He daily worked around the clock, day and night, year round.

Dr. Chen is as benevolent as his father, Dr. Jing Sung Chen. He had the career in medicine more than sixty years. He regarded patients as his own family to take care of them all the time. Prior to the implementation of National Health Insurance, all medical expense had to be paid by the patients themselves. It is really a considerable pressure and burden for the poor families to seek treatments for diseases. As long as Dr. Chen met poor people who came for treatments, he did not charge them any fee and did not leave debts of the patients. So Dr. Chen's deeds have been relished and widespread till now.

Question 1: Why did Dr. Jing Sung Chen want to be a doctor?

Dr. Chen：Because my grandfather had asthma and needed to see a doctor often, but the number of doctors is rare and many patients had to wait for long to see a doctor, and so did my grandfather. Therefore, my grandfather suggested my father, whose major originally is law when having studied in college in Japan, transfer his major to medical. This way, he can cure patients for the residents in Tianjhong.

Question 2：Why did Dr. Shi-zai Chen want to be a doctor?

Dr. Chen：Having been a doctor for years, my father was aged and could not endure the burden himself gradually. So he asked me to come back from the States to take over the hospital.

Question 3：What is the goal to be a doctor for Dr. Jing Sung Chen?

Dr. Chen：We practiced medicine in hometown for years in order to make the medical care a progress and keep the residents healthy. We gave equal treatment to everyone, no matter good or bad guys. Sometimes, we did not charge the fee and even provide them medicine and food freely. We just want to help the poor and make the society better.

Question  4：Have you ever been in the situation of short of money?

Dr. Chen：Because we often donated money and goods to the poor, we were ever short of money in some situations. For the spirit to be a doctor, even if we lost a lot, we still had to suck it up.

▲The interview of Dr. Shi-zai Chen

Question  5：Why did you establish a new hospital next to the original one?

Dr. Chen：With the modernization of medical cares, the original Japanese medical care system was not sufficient for curing modern diseases. Therefore, I brought the advanced western medical care devices and build a new western hospital next to the original one in order to cure more modern diseases.

Question  6：Why did the Jing Sung Clinic stop its business?

Dr. Chen：The original Japanese medical resources could not catch up with modern necessities, and furthermore, there are more and more modern western hospitals and clinics in Tianjhong. The market is so competitive that our income is not sufficient to make both ends meet, so we decided to close the business of the hospital.

Question  7：Do you have some impressive memories of the patients?

Dr. Chen： I am not clearly sure if my dad had any, but I had one special case. A few decades ago, there was a big-belly middle-aged man coming for treatment. After diagnosis we found he had a completely hardened liver. Many patients with chronic diseases came see me to found their diseases and healed. He was just one of them. After the treatment, his health got many improvements and then volunteer to stay in the hospital for help.

Question  8：Do you often stay up late for work?

Dr. Chen： Certainly! At that time, many patients with chronic diseases were hospitalized for observation and I had to treat at least more than one or two hundred patients in a day. I often had to see patients till eleven or twelve at night. Afterwards, I had ward rounds for the hospitalized patients. I almost went to bed in the early morning every day.

Question  9：What is the history and significance of Shou Shan Hall?

Dr. Chen：Shou Shan Hall was built for my great grandfather by the residents in Tianjhong. It has been here more than one hundred years. In my childhood, I often played with similar-aged children under the big tree in the yard.