Fiji’s first colonial hospital was initially located in the former capital, Levuka before it was relocated to Walu Bay in the late 1800s and was commonly referred to as ‘Hospital Hill.’
The buildings of this first Suva hospital called Colonial Hospital were nothing fancy. It was bare, overtly simple and offered very little comfort.
In a report written by one of Suva’s pioneer nurse, May Anderson, which was sent courtesy of Granville Corney, the chief medical officer to the International Congress of Nurses in 1901 said Suva’s hospital began to slowly form its roots in Walu Bay, in 1883.
According to Anderson, she a few native houses of timber, reeds and thatch (bure) ‘served their purpose in sheltering patients who came from near and far’.
The hospital was situated on a Walu Bay hill and overlooked the harbour, surrounded by tropical greenery and had a future for development.
As time moved on and Suva developed further, the primitive structures of thatch at the Colonial Hospital were replaced by wooden buildings which were able of catering for more patients.
“The buildings are all timber, surrounded by spacious verandahs, roofed with shingles, the floors stained and polished and all kept spick and span, ” Anderson said about the upgraded facilities.
“Until 1888 the hospital was in charge of a non-resident medical officer and its domestic administration was presided over by an untrained matron who was kind, indeed to the patients but lacked the knowledge so essential in nursing the sick,” she said.
“The work of the wards was carried on by native and Melanesian labourers.”
From 1888 onwards, a resident medical superintendent arrived and there were nine wards with 107 beds at the hospital.
The operating theatre, dispensary, office and eye room were included in the block called the European wards.
“The European wards are fitted with all the ordinary ward furniture and are very bright and cheerful,” Anderson noted.
“The native wards are not supplied with more than is really necessary as native habits are usually somewhat grimy and disagreeable and nurses must ever be on the alert to keep everything clean.”
Scrubbing, sweeping and polishing were done by local ward servants who were described as ‘untrustworthy’ and that constant supervision had to be maintained over their work.
“Iron bedsteads are used throughout and the Fijians use mats, blankets and native pillows (a piece of wood or bamboo on two short legs, which supports the nape of the neck).
“Attached to each ward is a lavatory and shower-bath with an abundance of excellent water for a daily bath is a necessity here and often has to be insisted on.”
Soon the need for further improvement at the hospital was apparent and the Colony decided to get the services of a trained nurse.
This pioneer sister was a lady from St Thomas’s Hospital, London, Frances Webster Wedderburn. She was trained by the famous Florence Nightingale herself.
She was specially chosen by Nightingale to come to Suva in 1892 to take charge of the hospital.
“During the early years, Europeans rarely sought admission to the wards, for it was regarded as a native hospital only, and many necessary comforts were wanting.
“The sister soon found that it was impossible to work on alone and accordingly made arrangements to train probationers.”
In the book, ‘The Lady of the Lantern,’ information from Fiji’s Legislative Council papers, from 1914-1919, including a Medical Department Report 1918, it noted that when the need for expansion arose, additional structures were built on the Walu Bay site.
However, regular cyclones threatened the state of the timber buildings.
“Dr Montague, Acting Chief Medical Officer in his report of June 1919, provided a revelation of the then prevailing conditions under which doctors, nursing staff and the general hospital help staff, carried out their duties,” the book read.
“The buildings were hot, difficult to keep clean as well as being expensive to upkeep.
“The various wards were sited on different levels and distanced from one another.
“The nursing staff on pitch dark night and in torrents of rain had to fi nd their way with the aid of oil lamps, across narrow deteriorated pathways and up flights of slippery steps to gain access.”
The hospital had no electric light and the light system was dim in some wards and at times non-existent.
There was no access to hot water supply and whenever it was required, jugs would be obtained from the kitchen.
“The kitchens were described as makeshift with no dairy or even a proper meat safe.
“The roughly built European kitchen possessed two stoves with little else.”
The journey to the patient’s dining room was a lengthy one with a pathway route that had a slippery surface.
“The inevitable breakages of crockery took up a good deal of the hospital furniture vote,” the book reported.
“The newer native kitchen had one bad fault. More smoke escaped through the doors than through the chimney.
“The Indian cook was the only person who could remain in it for any length of time.”
The state of the operating theatre was not worthy of its name.
Its physical inadequacies, mostly because of its ventilation issue, created a stuffy and hot atmosphere.
“The surgeon’s face had to be constantly mopped by an assistant to prevent sweat from dropping into the wound.
“No proper provision for washing hands was available and patients could not enter or leave the operating theatre on a trolley.
“A stretcher was laid on the floor. After being lifted onto it the patient had to endure the many corners of the devious track with exposure to sun, wind and rain.”
Through the careful balance of the trainee nurses, no falls were made while carrying patients.
“The nurse’s quarters were inadequate. The Governor expressed the opinion that, in ordinary times, the staff conditions would have been tedious ones. In times of emergency, they would have been excessively trying ones.
“Medical officers had not the use of any privacy in a consulting room and their questions, together with the patient’s replies, were overheard by those around.”
The dispensary formed part of the narrow passageway and everyone who passed through would see bottles, containers and boxes on both sides.
Poisonous drugs were kept locked in a cupboard at another location on the property and a student who had failed his exams decided to ingest prussic acid one night from this stash.
“As it did not have the desired effect he returned to the open dispensary for some strychnine, half the night was spent in saving his life.”
It was stated that the females were not served as well as the males as their ward was hot with stagnant air with no sea breeze from the harbour.
“The private wards were fairly comfortable but hopelessly inaccessible from the operating room and the kitchen.
“The verandahs had irreparable leaks; the nurses knew them well enough not to place patients’ chairs beneath them.”
On the leeward side of the hospital where the wind was insufficient, a septic tank was placed and was an annoyance to those who passed by on the Depot Road and was also a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
“The lack of fences provided an apparent right of way past the native nurses quarters and the kitchen; night prowlers were not uncommon.
“The approaches to the old native ward were dangerous, especially at night.
“The ones to the obstetric wards were notoriously poor. The nurses negotiating them on their lonely night rounds were none too happy.”
The Colonial Hospital was met with many challenges including the absence of an isolation and tuberculosis ward, and no X-ray apparatus available.
In an earlier annual medical report of 1908, the need for a new hospital had been mentioned and in August 1914, governor Bickham Estcott had received approval to reclaim land for a new hospital.
“This was to have been at the front of and to the south of the Suva Gaol. The war outbreak placed the work in abeyance.”
This plea was again renewed by governor Rodwell in June 1919 but this time it was to level the land elswhere instead of the reclaimed site.
However, the new hospital did not come to light until 1923 at an entirely new location, which is the where the current the Colonial War Memorial Hospital stands.
