Goa Government has been doing a lot of developments in the health sector that includes the construction of many district hospitals across Goa, and the ongoing construction of the new district hospital in Goa is one of them. The government has also introduced the ‘Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana’ a health insurance Scheme providing the Goans with health benefits of Rs. 4,50,000 for the family of four, but despite all these the condition of the Government hospitals in the state still remains the same.
Over five years since it started, in spite of there has been no change in the government the condition of Hospicio hospital kept degrading day by day. Though the government has started the construction of a district hospital in Margao, looking at the condition of the 150-year-old building of the hospital one can say that “ Hospicio’s pot of woes is overflowing” and this shows us the government’s negligence towards the health sector in Goa.
The disgraceful condition of the Hospicio is not only in terms of infrastructure but even in terms of the space, with the capacity of only 230 beds but by squeezing in some more beds they have increased the number to 260. In spite of all this, the authorities are compelled to accommodate the patients on mattresses on the floor, resulting in the lack of hygiene wherein the diseases are spread from one patient to other. Another issue faced by the hospital is the shortage of doctors and types of machinery to treat the patients since the hospital is still surviving on some basic life support systems and the number of patients is on an increase.
As it was quoted by the ex-health minister Laxmikant Parsekar at its first visit to the Hospicio Hospital that the occupancy of the hospital was almost one-and-a-half times its capacity and so, obviously, the available facilities were overburdened but, the issue was taken a serious note when the PWD declared that the second and the third floor of the annexe building were unsafe. After this, though the third floor was fully vacated the dialysis department was still functioning on the second floor which soon had to be shifted because of the fall of the cast iron railing on a lady causing head injury. It has also been noticed that the post of Bio-chemist has not been filled from the past three years and due to this, the heart patients cannot undergo the required test to start the crucial line of treatment.
In order to sort things out, it is decided that the entire forensic department will be shifted in the Monte Hill, where there is a new morgue being constructed, and there will be an increase in the number of beds by shifting the dialysis, ENT, psychiatry, etc in the old Collectorate building.
The chairman of Hospicio’s visiting committee said “Until the new hospital gets functional, it’s imperative that the Hospicio gets the desired attention of authorities. The health minister and Fatorda MLA are committed to improving the situation in the Hospicio. The hospital is the lifeline of the common man, and it should remain as such,”
The issue was raised and problems were told years back to the concerned authorities but still, there is no action taken in this regards. How long will this situation go to remain like this? And when are the authorities going to wake up?
