Since the program's inception in Hualien, Taiwan on September 10, 1972, Tzu Chi has been continuously running free clinics for the poor and disadvantaged. The past 30 years has seen many more doctors join TIMA. The scale of free clinics has been expanded, the quality improved, and the scope of its services has now become internationalized.
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As of November 2001, free clinics have been offered more than a hundred times a year in Taiwan. Thy have been offered nine times in mainland China, and more than a hundered times in various overseas locations, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, U.S.A., Paraguay, Brazil, El Salvador, and Mexico. Over 217,000 people have received services all over the world.
Care for special groups and institutions
In addition to providing free clinics to the homeless and to the Taiwanese aborigines, the Taiwan chapter of TIMA also runs treatment centers for those battling alcoholism, as well as service centers for Taipei County's homeless. The chapter offers free clinics at Hsin-der Rhabilitation Center in Tainan County, and Nanto County Disabled Children's Rehabilitation Center on a regular basis.
TIMA has also recently provided free clinics in Bekasi in Indonesia, to the Hispanic community in Los Angeles, to new immigrants in San Francisco, to the poor inhabitants at Antelop Valley in Southern California, and to the Soweto Children's Home of Hope in Johannesburg South Africa.
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