Between 20 and 30 people who are treated for mental health issues have no place to go afterwards, says Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Sashi Kiran.
She said this during a meeting with board members of the Nadi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NCCI), special administrators and other stakeholders to discuss the prevalence and solutions for the current street dwellers, beggars and mentally challenged individuals found in Nadi and Namaka.
Ms Kiran said some of these individuals were aggressive at home and could not be managed.
“You know very well we don’t have a mental health care institution,” Ms Kiran said.
“We have Saint Giles and unfortunately even there, when people are taken after treatment, their family members don’t want to take them.”
Ms Kiran said Fiji had not really thought of building care homes for those facing mental health challenges.
“That’s something that needs to be looked at. Nadi has a big challenge with the young people and drugs, like Dr Raju said.
“Our social welfare office in Nadi deals with the most complicated cases, compared to anywhere else in the district.”
Ms Kiran said police were dealing with some complex cases from Nadi related to drugs, violence within the families and the drug aggression within families.
“It is something we are taking very seriously.
“We’ve been collecting data, and we are working on drug rehabilitation support systems.”
