Imagine this. A common man runs from pillar to post for his basic medical needs while our legislators are racing in and out of top medical destinations across India and abroad. It’s a tragic irony that the government which spends crores of rupees on treatment of its legislators doesn’t have the money to procure basic dengue kits for the common man.
So what happens to all the tall promises health minister Vishwajit Rane made to the common man? Leave aside the talk of super-speciality block, cancer and trauma units and the latest medical equipment he has been promising. If we may recall, around a month back, July 6 to be precise, Rane gave Goans his occasional booster dose, announcing that all types of medicines will be made available at all Public Health Centres (PHCs) by July 19. He also spoke of an MoU for testing kits at Sub-Health Centres (SHCs) with 28 parameters of blood testing facility.
A few days later he assured that all SHCs and rural medical dispensaries would be upgraded on priority to offer better healthcare to people in rural areas, while admitting the many PHCs and CHCs are in a dilapidated state. He spoke about emergency rooms, ultrasound facilities...new IStat machines, diagnostic facilities at the doorstep and to top it all, Rane floated a novel idea of open foot clinics in villages for diabetes patients and spoke of a diabetic care plan which would provide free insulin in all PHCs and CHCs.
Cut to the reality now. The common man can’t find even basic dengue testing kits at North Goa’s District Hospital in Mapusa and in Mormugao hospital, leave aside primary health centres. What is even worse is the fact that an individual is told to wait painstakingly for six days for blood test reports.
The government has found the common man too easy to manipulate and deceive, and that is why we hear of tall promises from time to time. Government doesn’t require a five-year plan to tackle vector-borne diseases like Malaria and Dengue, which are known to raise their ugly head every monsoon. The least any government could do is to equip itself well in advance if it has the slightest interest of its people in mind.
This brings us to another argument. While government is focused on premier hospitals like Goa Medical College Hospital, South Goa and North Goa Districts Hospitals, it has ignored the primary health centres where even the basic medical facilities are missing. There are 19 primary health centres and 5 community health centres spread across Goa, but most have failed to address the health issues of villagers. This is why we see people travelling miles and queuing up to take treatment in GMC.
If the health minister is promising an upgrade of its village health infrastructure, then its time Vishwajit visits the Balli PHC, which caters to over half-a-dozen villages besides Cuncolim, where most of the patients are literally forced to turn to Hospicio. There is an X-ray facility available only on alternate days and the dialysis unit is virtually non-functional for lack of a doctor. Or consider the case of residents from in and around Sancoale and Zuarinagar who have been demanding a full-time PHC. Sancoale has a population of about 30,000 while Zuarinagar is a home for another 15,000 people, both areas in dire need on medical attention. It is here where pregnant women have been shifted to GMC on a goods rickshaw in the middle of the night. The PHCs and SHCs are grappling to address the health issues of villagers and the upgrade and boost the health minister spoke of time and again only remains an empty promise.
Again, when the government talks about Goenkarponn, it must understand that this Goenkarponn runs through the villages of Goa. It is rooted very deeply in our villages and its people, and these are the very areas where the government has lost its focus. If the government’s disaster management fails to shield us from nature’s fury year after year, here is another disaster where the common man is left to fend for himself.
