Chief Paediatric Surgeon, Dr Josese Turagava is calling on the Government to seriously think about setting up a 1000 bed hospital in the Nasinu area, to ease the pressure on Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva.
Speaking to the media, Dr Turagava revealed that there are just far too many people living in the Suva and Nausori area for the CWM to cater for.
Dr Turagava admitted that the CWM Hospital only has a 500 hospital bed capacity and does not have capability to serve more than 400,000 Fijians that moved into the Suva –Nausori area in the last 10 years.
He said there is a turnaround period of 2 to 3 days for a hospital bed to be made available if a patient is admitted with suspected appendix and has to receive surgery after being referred from Navua Hospital.
Dr Turagava highlighted that it does not help when the ceiling in theatre rooms are collapsing in the middle of surgeries.
“This happened last week at the CWM Hospital and is unsafe for both the patients and the surgical teams operating,” Dr Turagava said.
Out of the eight theatres rooms built, Dr Turagava said only three are working.
“It shows that our hospital needs a lot of maintenance and renovations. But instead of trying to fix one problem after the other, I think it is time that the Government think of a new tertiary hospital within Suva and Nausori to alleviate the work load for CWM.”
“Clinicians are frustrated with wanting to work but having no specialists available, no operating time or theatre space to work.”
Dr Turagava said the hospital has cancer patients waiting but they are unable to look after their needs because of limited resources or manpower.
He added that some staff have had to come in after working hours to clear work logs.
Meanwhile, the Coalition Government has prioritised the health sector in the current budget and has allocated $453.8 million for the Ministry of Health.
