News Room

Brief Introduction of Fiji
The Republic of Fiji is an island country composed of 300 islands. It is located in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga, and south of Tuvalu. Fiji is also one of the few countries in the world that is situated in both the Eastern and Western hemispheres. The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the total population.
Due to its special geographical location, Fiji is a multicultural country. Its culture is composed of indigenous Fijian, Indo-Fijian, Asian and European traditions. Such a unique cultural identity is also reflected on its buildings, languages, customs and habits.
The Kava Ceremony is the most important religious and cultural tradition in Fiji. This ceremony is usually held on special holidays or when there are important visitors. Kava is a crop of the western Pacific. The roots of the plant are used to produce the drink “Yaqona”, which is usually served in a coconut shell. Yaqona is an alcohol-free drink with sedative and anesthetic properties. Its name in Latin means “intoxicating pepper”. Some people call it “the coke of Fiji”.
Fijians prefer more conservative dresses. Males usually wear “sulu” while females wear “sulu” and “chamba”. Sulu is a rectangle cloth tying at the waist. It looks like a skirt or a cape, but it is regarded as Fiji's formal and dignified dress. Fijians usually wear it to the church or to work. Sulu can be worn in different ways. Usually, hotels in Fiji are able to teach tourists how to wear sulu.
Program Highlights
Cathay General Hospital (CGH) began to implement the "Medical Cooperation Project with Friendly Countries", which was commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan in 2014. Due to CGH’s excellent medical service quality, it has become a cooperative hospital highly trusted by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services of Fiji over the years. A total of 14 medical teams had been dispatched, and medical services had covered all parts of the main island and the second largest island (covering about 85% of Fiji’s population). More than 5,600 Fijian people had been benefited with 127 surgeries operated. The results have been remarkable, fruitful and highly recognized by the Representative Office of Taiwan in Fiji and the Fijian people.
Cathay General Hospital had performed many surgeries and case demonstrations for the very first time in Fiji, including natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery and functional rhinoplasty, in which the local medical staff had learned a lot from them. The Hospital also cooperated with the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, the largest hospital in Fiji, to host a joint international symposium on medical quality, patient safety and otorhinolaryngology for improving quality management in Fiji's health care, in which the event was highly appreciated by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services and medical staff in Fiji. In addition, CGH had assisted in Fiji’s national epidemiologic survey on otitis media for children and co-published the paper "Pediatric otitis media in Fiji: Survey findings 2015" in the International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, with the Deputy Secretary of Public Health of the Fiji Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Eric Rafai. Moreover, medical assistance and services provided by CGH had been repeatedly reported on local media, such as Fiji Times and Fiji Sun.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2021, the CGH mobile medical teams have been suspended, which made the two parties difficult to have face-to-face contact and communication. In response to the changes, CGH has switched the focuses to building a medical education database, establishing international consultation and audio-visual educational platforms, and developing a telemedicine platform. We maintain our interactions by video conference in order to sustain friendly and cooperative relations with Fiji.