On August 30, 1975, The Fiji Times published a supplement on the refurbished Lautoka Hospital.
“It’s a miracle! It seems too good to be true that we have such a lovely modernised hospital in Lautoka.”
This was just one of the few comments heard from people in Lautoka about the new hospital which sprang into operation in July.
Fiji, for the first time, had developed something to be proud of and talked about and that, as you know, is the latest completed development of the multimillion dollar complex, the largest hospital in the South Pacific Islands.
The report said that the hospital has an approximate area of 2453 square miles and is divided into three levels, this the ability effect on elevations.
The building complex occupies seven acres.
The layout of the hospital comprises four main areas of service, the ward block, outpatients, basic services and the shared services of obstetrics.
The main ward block is centrally located and the ground floor which comprises the pediatric (children’s) ward has 33 beds altogether.
The surgical wards are on the first floor with 68 beds and the medical wards are on the second floor which has 58 beds.
The third floor has a mixture of wards with 58 beds and on the fourth floor, there are 18 beds and 29 private beds.
The bed capacity of the new hospital is 310 and the hospital, on the whole, is very spacious.
There is enough space still available for the extension to provide facilities for 600 beds.
The central sterile unit which played a vital part in the hospital and which caters for the needs of other hospitals in the Western Division controls the piped gas systems in all the wards.
There are two modern operating theatres built next to each other. Another important section is the accident and emergency unit, which has the facility of a casualty operating theatre.
This unit is quite separate from the outpatients unit.
Other units such as dental X-ray and pathology are equipped with modern machines and equipment to provide extended facilities for treatment and patients.
The hospital provides community service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
