The Colonial War Memorial Hospital is a hospital located in

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divi ...

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. It was built and completed at the end of 1923. It was built with the assistance of £319,500. It replaced the Colonial Hospital which was first built in

Levuka Levuka () is a Local government in Fiji, town on the eastern coast of the Fijian island of Ovalau (Fiji), Ovalau, in Lomaiviti Province, in the Eastern Division, Fiji, Eastern Division of Fiji. Prior to 1877, it was the capital of Fiji. At the c ...

(the former capital of Fiji) and relocated to Walu Bay in Suva in 1894.

Background

The hospital was the brainchild of Legislative Council member

Henry Marks Sir Henry Marks (5 February 1861 – 5 June 1938) was an Australian-born Fijian politician, serving as a member of the Legislative Council of Fiji for over twenty years. Alongside Robert Crompton, John Maynard Hedstrom and Henry Milne Scott, ...

, who personally donated £5,000 towards its founding, and gave another £5,000 through his company.Notable Men of the Pacific
, ''

Pacific Islands Monthly ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', commonly referred to as "PIM", was a magazine founded in 1930 in Sydney by New Zealand born journalist R.W. Robson. Background ''Pacific Islands Monthly'' was started in Sydney in 1930. The first issue ran in August ...

'', February 1931, p6 When it initially opened in 1923, it had 108 beds and 27 staff members of which 17 were European doctors and nurses and 10 were local nurses but today, it has a total of 1117 staff of which 133 are doctors, 534 are nurses, 173 paramedical and management staff and a support team of 277. The Hospital also acts as a teaching hospital with students from

Fiji School of Medicine The Fiji School of Medicine is a tertiary institution based in Suva, Fiji. Originally established in 1885 as the ''Suva Medical School''. FSM became the College of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences as part of Fiji National University in 2010. It ...

and

Fiji School of Nursing Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

having campuses based at the hospital since 1928. The hospital also served during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, treating patients who required

intensive care Intensive care medicine, also called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes pro ...

hospitalization. On 6 June 2021, after reporting a record number of cases, the Ministry of Health sealed off the hospital for treatment of COVID-19 patients only.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Suva Hospitals established in 1923 Hospitals in Fiji 1923 establishments in the British Empire