Out of love for her profession, her husband and Taiwan, a dentist from Poland repeated her residency to become a certified dentist in Taiwan, one of the few foreign residents, if not the only one, in the dental field.
A graduate of Poznan University of Medical Sciences’ dentistry program, Iga Kondziela put herself through the dental vocational program twice after deciding to settle in her husband’s native Taiwan.
Kondziela and her husband, Tsai Shih-wei (蔡詩偉), met at the Polish university’s dental program.
Photo: CNA
After dating for about a year and a half, they began their residencies in their respective countries, maintaining a long-distance relationship through the use of software such as Skype.
The couple said that they only saw each other twice during their residencies, with Kondziela flying to Taiwan to visit Tsai. Following the completion of their residencies, Tsai returned to Poland to propose to Kondziela.
After agreeing to start their life in Taiwan, the couple said that Kondziela, who did not want to be tied down at home, decided to take on the challenge of acquiring a license to practice dentistry in Taiwan.
According to the “Professional and Technical Examinations Regulations” set by the Ministry of Examinations, those with a degree in dentistry must take and pass the first part of the “Staged Senior Professional and Technical Examinations Regulations for Medical Doctors, Dentists, Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Pharmacists” before being allowed to enter a residency program domestically.
However, her first challenge was to become proficient enough in Chinese so that she could take the national examination.
The couple said that Kondziela enrolled at the Mandarin program at the Chinese Culture University for six months and committed herself to learning to read and write Chinese.
Although Kondziela failed the national exam on her first try, she passed it on her second try six months later.
Kondziela then started a residency at Shuang Ho Hospital in New Taipei City for a year before taking and passing the second part of the national exam to attain her Taiwanese license.
Having lived in Taiwan for nine years, Kondziela said she loves the hospitality of Taiwanese as well as Keelung, where she and her husband work together at the Hyatt Dental Clinic.
Comparing Taiwan’s national health insurance with that of Poland’s, Kondziela lauded the wide coverage that the local program offers, saying it provides better dental treatment.
Asked about the war in Ukraine, Kondziela said that many of her friends and family in Poland have extended their support to Ukrainians through donations and by providing refuge.
Kondziela added that she felt sad for Ukraine and hoped that the war would end soon as it was not a justified aggression.
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