St Giles Hosp Under Resourced

All is not well at the St Giles Psychiatric Hospital in Suva, says its Senior Medi­cal Superintendent, Dr Balram Pandit.

He said the hospital was underre­sourced in terms of trying to meet the demand for services it was es­tablished for in 1884.

“Everything is getting complex; even our workplace is getting chal­lenging,” Dr Pandit said.

“At times, there is a lack of staff; admissions are ever increasing; there aren’t enough capable staff to cater for that; there is a lack of resources; and there isn’t enough medication to help manage the cravings associated with the drugs.”

This is not the first time the hos­pital has publicly stated its opera­tional woes.

It recorded an increase in the number of visits last year, which was 9125 compared to 6322 in 2022.

In 2022, the number of patients admitted was 632. Last year, 891 pa­tients were admitted.

Dr Pandit said there was an in­crease in the number of patients who visited the facility last year.

This includes an increase in the number of children between the ages of 14, 15, and 16, as well as near-adults. Most children were victims of substance abuse, which was a serious concern for young people taking illicit drugs.

The statistics by the Substance Abuse Advisory Council (SAAC) from 2019 to 2022 showed there were 2355 drug and alcohol-related cases reported in primary schools, while 5933 cases were recorded in second­ary schools.

These were cases of students be­ing found with illicit drugs, com­monly alcohol and other drugs.

Challenges

Dr Pandit said providing the much-needed service to patients was a challenge.

He said there was a perceived shortage of medication utilised in child and adolescent mental health, psychogeriatrics, addiction, and other specialised groups.

“Currently, we don’t have spe­cial wards for young patients who are going through mental relapse, which is a huge problem,” he said.

“There are not enough beds at the St Giles facility to cater to and treat these children’s needs; most of them are referred to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital.”

Dr Pandit said the 140-year-old fa­cility needed to improve to cater for the rising number of admissions.

“In terms of long-term care and rehabilitation for patients, the cur­rent infrastructure cannot cater to them; it needs more resources,” Dr Pandit said.

“The reality faced with patients is that they are not accepted by so­ciety; some are rejected from their own homes, which is a sad situa­tion that is beyond our control.”

Reality

After the COVID pandemic, Dr Pandit said there were significant cases where a lot of patients were treated because of depression.

They sought assistance because of depression and the high cost of living.

“Apart from the consumption of drugs by half of the patients, the common ones are depression and anxiety, which are silent killers that many don’t know about,” he said.

“Our job is to create a space in dealing with them on what areas they need help in, but we can’t do more with limited resources.”

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