RSSA Jesuit priest ministering to people with leprosy has welcomed the government´s recent apology for having shunned and forcibly segregated these people for decades.
Father Luis Gutheinz, 76, also said most leprosy sufferers and those who have recovered from the disease were satisfied with the government´s recent compensation package. This included giving each person between NT$200,000 and NT$3.64 million (US$5,757-US$104,777).
Taiwan Premier Liu Chao-shiuan on Feb. 12 apologized for past governments´ lack of a positive policy for these people, which resulted in decades of discrimination and suffering.
In 1930, when leprosy was feared and little understood, the Japanese colonial government in Taiwan forced people with the disease to live in Losheng Sanatorium in Taipei county. In 1962, this segregation policy was removed, but Losheng Sanatorium remained the only public institution for people with leprosy, and many continued to live there.
According to Father Gutheinz, an Austrian missioner who has served people with leprosy for 34 years, about 30 of the 272 Losheng residents did not accept the apology. “I understand how they feel but I do hope they will put the past” behind them, said the assistant parish priest of St. William Church. The church is located within the Losheng Sanatorium´s new premises in Taoyuan county.
Father Gutheinz, who is also theology professor at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei, noted the Health Department´s director recently stayed overnight at the sanatorium. “This shows the government´s sincerity,” he said.
Last August, Taipei´s legislative council passed the “Act of Human Rights Protection and Compensation for Patients of Hansen´s Disease.” It stipulated that the government should restore the honor of people with the disease. It also said the government´s action should include a public apology, a public collective commemoration of the deaths of people who had the disease, giving leprosy patients regular medical and living allowances, and proactively educating the public on the illness.
In addition to the compensation, the government is also giving each leprosy patient a monthly living allowance of NT$7,500 and a monthly medical allowance of NT$10,250, according to Father Gutheinz. The priest, who is now also serving leprosy patients in mainland China, said he hopes the living allowance can be raised by another NT$13,550 to match veteran soldiers´ allowances.
The 30 people who rejected Liu´s apology said they did so partly to protest the local government´s forcible relocation of residents in Losheng Sanatorium´s old quarters in late 2008, to make way for a mass transport system depot.
Some other people are also opposing this move because they consider the site historically meaningful.
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