Taiwan's Interior Ministry is rewriting the rules for letting alternative-service conscripts leave duty early on medical grounds, which is bad news for anyone hoping to exit on a thin diagnosis.

• Conscripts asking for a medical discharge will now have to hand over full records — hospital notes, test and pathology reports, surgery logs, images, even photos of the injury.
• Refusing tests or failing to supply that paperwork means the exam gets counted as normal, closing a loophole that previously only covered outright refusal.
• Men with a valid disability card or major-illness certificate can be discharged straight away if their condition matches the exemption table; doubtful cases go to a designated hospital for a second check.
• The bar for specific conditions is rising — broken limbs now need severe deformity affecting movement, not just impaired movement.
• Mental health claims such as anxiety disorders, psychosis and severe depression will need a psychological assessment plus at least two months of treatment records.

Outlook: The revision is tied to a broader overhaul of Taiwan's physical-fitness classification standards that the Defense and Interior ministries plan to issue jointly soon.