Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/27
By: Chen Wei-ting and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Nov. 27 (CNA) A Norwegian missionary doctor who established Taiwan's first nursing home for

children suffering from polio in Pingtung County, southern Taiwan in 1961, has passed away in Norway at the age of 93, according to the Taiwan-based Bjørgaas Foundation.

"Doctor Olav Bjørgaas, who devoted his life to Taiwan, rested in peace in God's arms on Nov. 15. He was 93 years old," said the foundation in a statement released Tuesday.

A memorial ceremony will be held at Pingtung Christian Hospital Dec. 13 under the auspices of the hospital and the Pingtung Christian Victory Home, both of which were founded by Bjørgaas in the 1950s and 1960s, the statement said.

According to the foundation, Bjørgaas was dispatched to Taiwan by Norway's Mission Alliance in 1954, when he was 28 years old and arrived with his newly wed wife. His first mission was caring for leprosy patients at the Losheng Sanatorium in New Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]