Prayer sessions only allowed if requested by patients

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services has clarified that prayer sessions are only allowed in hospitals in cases where the patients or the relatives specifically request for spiritual healing.

When asked by Fijivillage, the ministry says this is not imposed on anyone and it is only provided based on the request of the patients and their relatives.

However some family members of patients admitted at the CWM Hospital have raised issues regarding patients being prayed over by people coming around the hospital to pray.

A female patient raised concern that a woman just came into the ward and started praying and pressed her painful leg which made matters worse.

The patient’s friend had to tell the woman praying to stop as the female patient was in extreme pain.

It has been confirmed that the woman did not ask the patient for her permission.

Another father raised an issue that he spent the night with his son at the hospital’s Children’s Ward and a prayer of a particular religious group was broadcast on the PA system.

This was done at about 6pm on that day.

Another family has raised the issue that a prayer group wanted to come and pray over a stroke patient.

When the family refused, the prayer group started saying that it was not a stroke but the devil was in the patient.

Freedom of religion is guaranteed in the constitution and it is clearly stated that no one should force a particular religion on another person. 

When asked by Fijivillage, the Health Ministry says that it will look will into this issue as the ministry has a guideline in place in terms of attending to the requests for prayer sessions, which is put forward through the hospital’s Medical Superintendent’s Office.

The office then does the verification in terms of the requests made and also the prayer groups that attend to the requests.

The Health Ministry stresses that patients have every right to refuse any prayer and ward managers are aware of this and patients and relatives are encouraged to liaise with ward managers on this and they often do

The ministry says respecting patient privacy and dignity is always of importance and is prioritised in all their hospital services.