Patients and families at Navua Hospital are enduring severe water shortages that hospital users say are undermining hygiene and patient care, with running water reportedly available only for brief periods at night.
Maternity ward patient Ateca Cagimaiwasa, admitted since Monday, told reporters the ward has no reliable daytime supply. “The main issue in this hospital is the water – in the daytime we don’t have water,” she said. According to Ms Cagimaiwasa, water typically comes on only between about 7pm and 8pm and the pressure is weak when it does, forcing patients and relatives to queue at taps after dark for up to an hour to fill containers for the following day.
Families say the shortage has forced them to ration what little water they can collect. Many are buying bottled water for drinking, while the same stored water is being used for multiple purposes — bathing, drinking and flushing toilets — when the pipes run dry. Some patients rise as early as 5am to bathe before the limited supply is depleted. Parent Samantha Nacewa said conditions became so intolerable that her family left the hospital to use home facilities. “We went home to have a shower and also used the toilet at home,” she said, adding that hygiene standards inside the ward were poor.
Visitors and patients also reported several water tanks on hospital grounds are empty and unusable, a situation they say highlights the severity and persistence of the problem. Relatives are calling for urgent intervention, warning the shortage is not merely an inconvenience but a risk to infection control and the wider functioning of the facility — concerns acute in maternity and paediatric care where sanitation is critical.
Health Minister Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu, when contacted about the situation, referred queries to the Water Authority of Fiji (WAF). WAF had not responded to requests for comment when this edition went to press. The minister’s referral and WAF’s silence leave patients and families seeking immediate relief while responsibility for fixing the supply remains unclear.
The Navua Hospital crisis comes as water supply strains have been reported elsewhere in Fiji in recent months. The Water Authority has previously acknowledged pressure on treatment plants in the Suva region and announced projects intended to bolster capacity, though those measures have focused on urban distribution systems and longer-term fixes. Hospital users and families at Navua are urging faster action to deliver safe, reliable water to the facility now.
Patients, staff and relatives say they want rapid emergency measures — such as tanker deliveries, repairs to tanks on site, or temporary connections — while a longer-term solution is organised. With maternity patients and children affected, health advocates warn that delays risk deterioration in standards of care.
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