First Superintendent: Mr. Shan Ho

Mr. Ho graduated from the Second Specialty Program of the National Defense Medical Center and previously served in the military as a deputy superintendent and battalion commander. The predecessor of this hospital was the First Army Sanatorium Battalion. On September 1, 1955, it was taken over by the Veterans Affairs Council and reorganized as a sanatorium battalion (Battalion Commander Wei-Min Mai served from January 1, 1953, to September 1, 1956). Mr. Ho assumed office as the third battalion commander on September 1, 1956, and when the institution was reorganized as a Veterans Hospital in 1957, he became its superintendent. He was transferred on March 1, 1958.

At the time of takeover, all hospital buildings were wooden structures. Two buildings were formerly match factories, and three were former anti-aircraft barracks. With over 1,000 patients and insufficient capacity, half of the wards used double-deck bunk beds. Medical equipment was rudimentary, staffing was limited, and care focused more on custodial support than treatment. Hospital staff and inpatients worked together to improve the environment, clearing gravel and weeds to build a four-meter-wide access road and planting fast-growing trees such as eucalyptus. In 1957, a reinforced concrete medical center was completed, additional funding was allocated for medical equipment, and staffing increased by more than 25%, transforming the institution from a custodial facility into a treatment-oriented hospital and laying the foundation for a modern hospital.

Second Superintendent: Mr. Wen Chen

Mr. Chen assumed office on March 1, 1958, and retired with honor on July 15, 1963. In the spring of 1961, former Premier Ching-Kuo Chiang inspected the hospital and noted that patients of varying severity were housed together, which was inappropriate. He ordered the construction of a small ward for critically ill patients. During Mr. Chen’s five years and four months in office, he devoted great effort to environmental improvement, including the construction of landscaped gardens, a bust of former President Chiang Kai-shek, Christmas trees along the roads, perimeter walls made of collected gravel, drainage systems, access roads, and over 2,180 square meters of asphalt pavement.

Third Superintendent: Mr. Jen Wang

Mr. Wang served from July 15, 1963, to July 1, 1970. Originally, wards consisted of six buildings with double-deck bunk beds, causing inconvenience to patients. Beginning in 1965, beds were converted to single-bed units. With funding from the Veterans Affairs Council, three reinforced concrete ward buildings (75 beds each) were constructed to accommodate severely ill veteran patients. During his tenure, additional facilities were built, including an auditorium, staff dormitories, a new hospital gate, a central kitchen with natural gas, and an upgraded mortuary. Gardens, ponds, pavilions, and walking paths were also created, providing an ideal convalescent environment. In the winter of 1967, five additional ward buildings were completed, marking a new milestone in hospital development.

Fourth Superintendent: Mr. Jen-Ying Lee

Mr. Lee graduated from Liaoning Medical College and advanced medical administration programs and previously served as an Army Colonel. He assumed office on July 1, 1970, and was transferred to Yuanshan Veterans Hospital on July 1, 1976. During his tenure, public insurance and labor insurance services were launched, a 30-bed ward for veterans’ dependents was established, and multiple departments were expanded or renovated. Medical equipment and infrastructure were significantly upgraded, greatly improving healthcare quality.

Fifth Superintendent: Mr. Fei-chi Liu

Mr. Liu graduated from the Department of Medicine of Lo-Jen Hospital. He assumed the post of superintendent on July 1, 1976, and was honorably transferred to Yuli Veterans Hospital on February 1, 1982. Superintendent Liu was known for his rigorous demeanor and reserved manner. In addition to handling administrative duties, he devoted himself to the study of acupuncture, resolving difficult medical problems for patients with tireless dedication, often working to the point of forgetting meals and rest.

To put the principle of serving the public into practice, an Acupuncture Department was established in 1980, with the superintendent personally providing consultations. Patients flocked to seek treatment upon hearing of this, and many who recovered wrote letters expressing their gratitude, respectfully referring to him as “Hua Tuo reborn.” When Superintendent Liu first took office, he pursued reform with determination and spared no effort. His major administrative initiatives included: requiring staff neither to give nor receive gifts and prohibiting gambling; strengthening environmental sanitation; improving meals for veterans; expanding the convening of staff and veterans’ honor and solidarity meetings; implementing the “four major disclosures”; holding additional monthly meetings to address veterans’ issues and to select outstanding employees; organizing staff birthday celebrations and personally visiting wards to present cakes to veteran birthday celebrants; personally leading supervisors to express concern for ill employees; and supervising medical and nursing staff to enhance service enthusiasm, while requiring all employees to demonstrate courtesy, compassion, friendliness, and a warm smile—initiatives that were all firsts for the hospital.

During his tenure, numerous construction and renovation projects were completed, including: construction of public patient wards and expansion of various departments and the emergency room; a nurses’ dormitory; renovation of the registration area and expansion of the medical records room; renovation of the veterans’ recreation room; construction of two dormitory buildings for medical and nursing staff; conversion of meal-distribution rooms for Wards 1 through 8 into storage rooms for inpatients’ belongings; tiling upgrades to the veterans’ kitchen; renovation of partitions in Ward 1 (Labor Insurance Ward); renovation of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall; and construction of officers’ patient wards, among others.

Sixth Superintendent: Major General Chang-ling Niu

Major General Niu graduated from the National Defense Medical Center and previously served as Deputy Director of the Army Medical Service. He was transferred from Nanzih Veterans Hospital to this hospital on February 1, 1982, and retired with honors on August 31, 1990.

During his tenure, the hospital’s year-end operational performance evaluations ranked first place for three consecutive years, from 1983 to 1985. In recognition of this achievement, an honorary certificate was personally presented by General Cheng, Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Council.

Major accomplishments during his tenure included:

• New construction projects: an outpatient building, veterans’ bathing and restroom facilities, a large veterans’ kitchen, and one First Ward building.
  Additional facilities planned: one staff dormitory, one environmental testing laboratory, and one physicians’ dormitory, all of which were put into service in the first half of 1991.

• Provision of outpatient and inpatient medical care for retired servicemen and their dependents across five counties and cities in northern and Miaoli regions; acceptance and treatment of transferred veteran patients from more than ten affiliated northern Veterans General Hospital units; and concurrent handling of medical services for veterans’ dependents covered by government employee insurance, labor insurance, and general public patients.

• Strengthening outpatient services and treatments. Veterans’ dependents received free medical consultations, 20% discounts on medication, and full exemptions for impoverished dependents and certified veterans’ family members.

• Implementation of standardized three-shift inpatient care operations, requiring nursing staff to ensure medications were taken orally as prescribed and injections properly administered, with comprehensive attention to diet, elimination, and personal hygiene.

• In coordination with the national Hepatitis B Prevention Program, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology was commissioned to add Hepatitis B screening to prenatal examinations and to provide preventive vaccinations for newborns.

• Monthly meetings held to review patient recovery and discharge status, ensuring sufficient capacity for new admissions.

• Promotion of geriatric disease prevention and paralysis care through the establishment of a research task force to conduct in-depth studies on prevention and treatment of common veteran illnesses, and the publication of preventive care manuals.

• Encouragement of rehabilitation activities for patients with mild paralysis and functional impairments.

Seventh Superintendent: General Shan-tsan Chao

General Chao graduated from the National Defense Medical Center and previously served as Superintendent (Major General) of the Army Medical Service Academy. He assumed office on September 1, 1990, and was honorably transferred to Puli Veterans Hospital on January 16, 1996.

During his tenure, approval was granted to expand the hospital’s staffing establishment. He was committed to enhancing the professional quality of physicians, establishing a specialist physician system, and promoting teaching–training collaboration with Taipei Veterans General Hospital. In terms of facilities, advanced medical equipment was introduced, including the installation of computed tomography (CT) scanners, enabling imaging of the brain, face, chest, limbs, and spine, thereby significantly improving diagnostic accuracy.

He actively sought funding and support for hospital construction projects, successfully completing both the medical building and the outpatient building. Medical support systems were also gradually improved, and in 1990, the hospital was officially accredited as a regional teaching hospital.

During Superintendent Chao’s term, the hospital obtained accreditation as a specialist training hospital in Internal Medicine, Surgery, Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pediatrics, with training capacity for the following numbers of specialists: 4 in Internal Medicine, 4 in Surgery, 2 in Family Medicine, 4 in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and 2 in Pediatrics.

In addition, in coordination with the National Health Information Network Hsinchu Regional Pilot Program, the hospital completed the implementation of a computerized management system in January 1994, marking the hospital’s entry into a new era of modernized management.

Superintendent Chao was known for his warm, approachable, and humorous personality. He was personally skilled in calligraphy and painting and was affectionately referred to as the “Scholar Superintendent.” During his tenure, a wide range of cultural and recreational activities were introduced, including calligraphy, painting, photography, flower arrangement, dance, and choir programs. Competitions and exhibitions were held regularly to foster a rich cultural atmosphere within the hospital, realizing the vision of “an artistic hospital and family-like wards.”

To further enhance service quality, Superintendent Chao actively promoted a courtesy service campaign, emphasizing the importance of polite service and the concept of professional, enterprise-style management. He required staff to uphold the principles of “treating patients as family” and “serving the community.” Incentive measures were adopted, suggestion boxes were widely installed, and frontline staff courtesy award voting activities were organized, with outstanding personnel publicly commended.

During Superintendent Chao’s tenure, the hospital campus was filled with music, literary spirit, and the fragrance of flowers, creating a warm and vibrant healing environment.

Eighth Superintendent: Major General Ling-huang Chen

Major General Chen graduated from the National Defense Medical Center. Prior to assuming this post, he served as Superintendent of the 816 Hospital, Director (Major General) of the Air Force Medical Service, and Deputy Director General of the Medical Affairs Bureau, Ministry of National Defense. He assumed office on February 1, 1996, and retired with honors on September 10, 2003.

After taking office, Superintendent Chen actively sought resources to upgrade hospital facilities. Recognizing the incompleteness of clinical departments, he recruited outstanding specialist physicians. With the progressive completion of both hardware and software facilities, the hospital’s medical performance grew significantly, reaching an average monthly revenue of over NT$30 million, making it the leading comprehensive teaching hospital in Hsinchu County and the top-performing hospital in the Zhudong area.

Superintendent Chen excelled in organizational management and placed great emphasis on employee welfare during his tenure. Measures included issuing substantial performance bonuses, increasing physicians’ income to boost morale, encouraging staff participation in leisure activities, organizing domestic and overseas team-building programs, and establishing the hospital’s first standard tennis court, which sparked a hospital-wide fitness movement.

Superintendent Chen was the first locally born superintendent in the hospital’s more than 40-year history. During his tenure, he introduced numerous pioneering initiatives, including: a one-stop service counter integrating registration and billing for public convenience; promotion of the “smile campaign”; recruitment of volunteer caregivers; early adoption of mobile management and walk-around service; provision of medical shuttle transportation services; establishment of Hsinchu County’s first postnatal care center and psychiatric ward; introduction of evening, weekend, and holiday outpatient clinics; founding the first hyperbaric oxygen therapy center in the Hsinchu region; and the inaugural professional training program for alternative military service personnel in medical services under the Veterans Affairs Council.

Beginning in FY 1996, the hospital’s performance evaluations and public service effectiveness rankings placed it among the top three Veterans Hospitals nationwide for five consecutive years, reflecting outstanding achievements.

Construction and renovation projects completed during his tenure included: construction of the Third Ward Building, pathology and autopsy facilities, conference hall, staff dormitory, and official residences; renovation of two psychiatric ward buildings, the nursing home, Third Ward Building, surgical offices, nursing home facilities, operating rooms, and related units; and infrastructure upgrades such as underground relocation of water and power lines, replacement of telephone systems and switchboards, improvement of campus roads and drainage systems, enhancement of barrier-free medical environments, and upgrades to fire-retardant safety equipment.

Ninth Superintendent: Professor Hung-ting Chiang

Mission: Respect for Life
Goal: Health
Vision: A Healthy Community
Core Values: High-Quality Medical Care and Sustainable Operation

Strategic Priorities:

1. Strengthening patient safety

2. Implementing comprehensive quality control

3. Enhancing professional competencies

4. Promoting community health

This hospital is one of the twelve Veterans Hospitals under the Veterans Affairs Council, providing medical services for veterans, their dependents, and the general public within the Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli medical service network. While Veterans Hospitals primarily focus on caring for veterans, National Health Insurance services serve as a complementary function. Over the past more than 40 years, the hospital has evolved from an initial convalescent unit into a modern regional teaching hospital, a transformation made possible through the leadership and dedicated management of successive superintendents.

The hospital has long adhered to the principles of integrity, efficiency, and convenience in serving patients, with a service-oriented approach as its core operational philosophy. In today’s society, expectations for service quality are increasingly high. To enhance organizational competitiveness and align with the global budget payment policy of the National Health Insurance system, the hospital continuously encourages staff to generate revenue while controlling costs, establishes sound cost-management mechanisms, strengthens service quality, and makes effective use of its existing medical resources. Furthermore, the hospital actively integrates into the community to deliver comprehensive healthcare services.

To earn public recognition and support national welfare policies, the hospital continues to deepen its engagement with veteran communities. Through close collaboration with Veterans Homes and Veterans Service Offices, the hospital provides long-term care and acute medical services for veterans and their dependents, while actively promoting geriatric medicine and strengthening community-based healthcare services. These efforts aim to realize the ideals of “good neighborliness” and “bringing healthcare into the home.” In an environment governed by survival of the fittest, only by creating irreplaceable value can the hospital achieve its goal of sustainable operation and long-term development.

Tenth Superintendent: Mr. Han-chin Yu

1. In response to the local government’s vision of building an age-friendly, livable, and healthy city, the hospital—located at the gateway to the indigenous townships of Jianshi and Wufeng and a major transportation hub along Provincial Highway No. 3—actively promoted community health initiatives after Superintendent Yu assumed office. He encouraged staff to embrace modern civic responsibility, launched mobile community medical service units, participated in primary care support programs for medically underserved areas, and collaborated with medical centers to provide IDS services for remote regions, significantly enhancing the hospital’s public image and service capacity.

2. In 2010, the Hsinchu County Emergency Care Center was established. Emergency department facilities and workflows were expanded and improved, and additional emergency manpower support was secured from the parent hospital, effectively addressing severe shortages of emergency medical personnel in underserved areas. The center played a critical role during major incidents, including the 2012 Smangus bus accident and several serious accidents along Provincial Highway No. 3, earning strong reliance and commendation from the Hsinchu County Government.

3. Budget allocations were actively secured to establish urgently needed local medical services, including becoming the only 24-hour delivery hospital among nine townships in the greater Zhudong area; launching home-based palliative care and shared hospice care programs; and establishing Hsinchu County’s first hospital with a dedicated hospice ward.

4. Superintendent Yu vigorously promoted industry–academia collaboration, signing medical cooperation agreements with National Taiwan University Hsinchu Hospital, Ton-Yen Hospital, Hsinchu Mackay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu Cathay General Hospital, and Miaoli Wei Gong Hospital, effectively integrating medical resources and facilitating referrals. He also signed an industry–academia cooperation agreement with Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, encouraging staff continuing education, joint research, and academic publication to enhance medical expertise and care quality.

5. In January 2012, Zhudong Veterans Hospital was officially restructured as Taipei Veterans General Hospital Hsinchu Branch, introducing top-tier medical center talent and systems while developing specialized services aligned with regional needs. The hospital embraced the “5H” core values—Hospital, Hope, Health, Handsome (Excellence), and Happiness—to achieve the goal of medical-center-level professional quality with the warm, patient-centered service of a regional hospital.

6. Superintendent Yu also served as a Hospital Accreditation Committee Member of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, a National Health Insurance Global Budget Negotiation Representative, an Executive Director of the Taiwan Community Hospital Association, and a Medical Affairs Review Committee Member of the County Health Bureau. He actively promoted quality improvement initiatives and healthcare services in underserved regions, introduced advanced women’s health medical technologies, and served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Healthcare Management at Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, passing on practical experience through teaching.

7. With long-standing public service and dedication to rural healthcare and the reduction of urban–rural disparities, Superintendent Yu made significant contributions to Taiwan’s healthcare system. He was specially recommended by the Taiwan Medical Association and received the 2014 Outstanding Medical Service Award, presented by Vice President Wu Den-yih on November 11, 2014, greatly enhancing the hospital’s reputation.

Eleventh Superintendent: Professor Chia-hsun Peng

Professor Peng graduated from the National Defense Medical Center and previously served as Deputy Superintendent of Tri-Service General Hospital and Superintendent of its Keelung Branch. He assumed office on August 1, 2015, and was honorably transferred to Taipei Veterans General Hospital on March 8, 2022.

Summary of Major Achievements During His Tenure:

1. Dedicated to improving medical care quality by strengthening the critical and emergency care network, forming multidisciplinary medical teams, and acquiring major medical equipment including a 128-slice CT scanner and a 1.5T MRI. The hospital passed accreditation as a general emergency responsibility hospital, with emergency services, intensive care units, and moderate-level major trauma care capabilities.

2. Actively promoted palliative care, building a hospice care network for underserved areas and expanding home-based hospice services, enabling end-of-life care within local communities. With the theme “Culturally Inclusive End-of-Life Care: Camellias Blooming Locally,” the hospital was awarded the SNQ National Quality Seal.

3. Proactively developed the long-term care system, promoting the construction of a long-term care building and establishing Hsinchu County’s only psychiatric nursing home, opening day care centers, founding community dementia care stations, and implementing integrated Long-Term Care ABC services, home medical care, and other continuous services. Veterans’ official service beds were transformed to enhance service quality.

4. In response to national healthcare policies, the hospital was positioned as a community hospital, providing mobile medical services to underserved populations, promoting preventive medicine, and driving community-based health promotion initiatives.

5. Served as a committee member for Northern Taiwan Medical Network programs and governance mechanisms, Director of the Association of Public Hospitals of the Republic of China, Accreditation Committee Member of the Joint Commission of Taiwan, President of the Northern Region Hospital Superintendents Association, and advisor to government committees on food, drugs, and substance control.

6. Promoted the adoption of the Taichung Veterans General Hospital Smart Healthcare System, improving administrative service quality. Under his supervision, the hospital became a seed hospital for northern Veterans Hospitals, assisting other branches with system implementation and achieving full deployment.

7. Advanced teaching and research, cultivating healthcare professionals for underserved areas, promoting research on rural dementia care and medical big data, enhancing innovative care outcomes, and successfully passing teaching hospital accreditation.

8. Actively expanded the hospital’s service footprint beyond county and city boundaries by undertaking the operation of the National Tsing Hua University Affiliated Clinic, creating a more accessible, friendly, and convenient healthcare environment across Hsinchu County and City.

9. Assumed major pandemic prevention responsibilities, supporting border quarantine operations, establishing a negative-pressure molecular biology laboratory, participating in epidemic screening, becoming a designated COVID-19 testing institution, and leading the hospital’s participation in national rapid testing and vaccination teams, fulfilling the mission of a public hospital.

10. Developed distinctive institutional service brands in pursuit of sustainable hospital operation, planning and establishing a health examination center, sleep center, and premium smart wards, providing comprehensive, customized, and intelligent healthcare services.

11. Built a strong institutional image through various accreditations and awards, including the SNQ National Quality Seal and the National Healthcare Quality Award (Silver Award), significantly enhancing the hospital’s medical service reputation.