PANAJI
Goa’s premier public health institute, Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC&H) which bore the brunt of the onslaught of both the waves of the pandemic, accounted for nearly 60 per cent of the 3100-odd Covid-19 deaths in the State, official figures revealed.
Compiled statistics until mid-July this year show that 1,869 Covid-19 patients died at the GMC&H but doctors said in many cases they were brought in to the GMC from other hospitals or too late in the day due to myriad reasons.
Nonetheless, in April-May this year when the dreaded virus ravaged the State in the second wave, the institution which prides itself at being the first medical college of Asia, faced flak after seeming dysfunctional systems were said to be allegedly responsible for dozens of deaths due to oxygen shortage.
In the very early days of the pandemic, the GMC&H was not part of the State’s medical response to Covid and the State government had designated the 100-bedded ESI hospital in Margao to exclusively treat Covid patients.
However as cases and mortality began to rise, the State government changed gears and set up wards in the GMC&H aimed at stemming the mortality rate. However, the ferocity of the first and the second wave of infections led to the system temporarily crumbling and large numbers of deaths were getting reported at the premier hospital.
The two government Covid facilities in South Goa -- ESI hospital and South Goa District Hospital -- meanwhile accounted for 18 per-cent of the deaths while another two per cent of the victims died in health centres and other hospitals functioning under the Directorate of Health Services.
In private hospitals, 232 fell victim to the virus.
Meanwhile, a peek into official statistics show that 64 patients, which works out to over two percent of Goa’s 3,101 Covid-19 victims until mid-July, died either in their homes or were declared ‘brought dead’.
A senior doctor at the GMC&H also said that a chunk of those who died, including in hospitals elsewhere, breathed their last within 12 hours of being brought into the hospital, indicating that the delay was fatal.
