Rising demand at St Giles sparks urgent need for upgrades

The rising demand for services at the St Giles Psychiatric Hospital in Suva, the country’s only psychiatric hospital, has created a significant need for infrastructure improvements.

Minister for Health and Medical Services Dr Atonio Lalabalavu said St. Giles Hospital was one of the oldest hospitals in Fiji and had been in service since 1884.

“With the increasing service demands, increasing number of patients of all ages are seen, treated, admitted and followed up at the hospital, it places a considerable demand on the infrastructure,” Dr Lalabalavu said.

“Again, it has lived through many climatic and operational challenges and the current infrastructure has undergone significant wear and tear over the years,” he said.

He said the ministry had approached a partner and donor organisation for the possibility of assisting towards the establishment of a new facility that would allow the hospital to venture into the latest treatment modalities, elevating mental health services in the country.

“A new facility will allow the hospital to branch out into the fields of addiction, psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry and old age psychiatry and to deliver speciality services such as group therapy, psychodrama, lithium level testing, recurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as it commonly known, and geropsychiatry.

Government remains committed

“Again, Government remains committed to addressing mental health in the country and improving the mental health services to our people. St. Giles has the capacity, but in terms of the treatment afterwards on substance abuse, and how you deal with it afterwards, that is where the gaps still lies and that is where the government through the partnerships that I had mentioned, that we are approaching other development partners to assist us in this area on substance abuse and its treatment in the long term.

“Again, it is something that the ministry, with our development partners, is looking into the capacity as it is, to look after it in the acute phase and treat them accordingly.”

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