To strengthen medical care for the people in southern Taiwan, promote medical development, and improve medical standards, the government established the "Kaohsiung Branch Preparatory Office" at Taipei Veterans General Hospital in 1984 , listing it as one of the 14 key national projects. Construction at the current site began in 1986 , and the branch was officially established in 1990 as the "Veterans Affairs Commission Taipei Veterans General Hospital Kaohsiung Branch." After its establishment, Dr.Sau-Tung Chu was appointed as the head of the department and began serving patients.
In 1993, the hospital was restructured and renamed as "Veterans Affairs Commission Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital." In 2003, the Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) Department was officially upgraded to the "ENT Department." In January 2013 , Dr. Sau-Tung Chu, the founding director, retired, and Dr. Yaoh-Shiang Lin, former Deputy Superintendent of the Tri-Service General Hospital, took over as the director of the ENT Department. In the same year, in line with the administrative reorganization of the Executive Yuan, the hospital was renamed as "Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital," and the ENT Department was officially renamed the "Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Department."
In September 2018, Dr. Yaoh-Shiang Lin was promoted to Vice Superintendent and continued to serve as the acting director of the ENT Department. In October 2019 , Dr. Bor-Hwang Kang was appointed as the current director of the ENT Department.
The department currently has facilities such as an endoscopy room, ultrasound examination room, hearing test room, speech therapy room, and vestibular function test room. Since 2012 , the hospital has introduced the da Vinci robotic surgical system to serve the community. The department is divided into three divisions: Otology, Rhinology & Head and Neck Surgery, and Oral and Laryngeal Surgery, each with a division director. Including the department director, there are 15 attending physicians and 12 resident physicians. The department has 38 beds, with an average outpatient volume of approximately 3,160 visits per month and an average inpatient discharge of about 254 cases per month. The bed occupancy rate is about 90% (89.5%).
