MARGAO
Laterite stones strewn around the mortuary unit of Hospicio bears testimony to the fact that the compound wall of the over 150-year old hospital came crashing down recently following torrential rains in the State.
Walk inside the over a century and half year old building and the situation is no better. Section heads have complained of wet and damp walls, while the wooden false ceiling in the medicine ward threatens to come down anytime, posing danger to everyone, including patients.
Strange it may seem, but true that Hospicio’s landline phones have not been working for quite some time now. Not much attention has been paid to repair the dead phone lines damaged by rodents as officials thought it was pointless to spend funds on repairs when Hospicio was set for shifting to the district hospital any time.
That’s not all. It’s monsoon time and sources told ‘The Goan’ that patients referred for X-ray have to wait for the rains to subside before they are taken from the main hospital building to the adjoining structure. The open space between the two buildings is not covered with a makeshift roof or pandal.
A similar condition exists near the building entrance, especially near the OPDs and pharmacy. For want of any makeshift cover, one often finds crowding near the pharmacy and OPD, leaving the patients and their relatives to fend for themselves.
In fact, a host of logistics and infrastructure issues have come to haunt the Hospicio managers, doctors and patients at a time when a 568-bedded South Goa district hospital is playing host to 62 Covid patients.
Hospicio officials as well as senior Health officials find themselves in a predicament how to go about addressing issues plaguing Hospicio when the imposing 568-bedded hospital notified for Covid operations is virtually empty. “We are all bracing up for the third wave and hence the South Goa district hospital cannot be de-notified as a Covid hospital. On the other hand, Hospicio is craving for attention. It’s because of all these infrastructure issues, the new hospital building was put in place to cater to the growing requirements, before Covid threw the plans haywire”, sources said.
The official added: “When the new district hospital building was being built, it was decided not to waste money on the Hospicio building maintenance since it was just a matter of time before the operations would be shifted to the new and spacious building. We are, however, stuck up in the old Hospicio building in view of the Covid situation. Issues relating to false ceiling, damp and soggy walls cannot be addressed overnight”.
Another official pointed out that the PWD has been asked to repair the compound wall to contain further damage. “We had repaired the wall at another point some time back. And, the PWD will take up the repair work on the stretch that gave in recently. But, we do not have an answer to the other issues staring at the hospital”, the official added.
Planned shifting of Hospicio has been kept on hold after the South Goa district hospital was notified as a Covid hospital last year. Hospicio OPD services, besides medicine ward was shifted to the new building last year, only to return back to the pavilion when the state was hit by the second wave.
Please save Hospicio: Reginaldo to CM
MARGAO: Congress MLA from Curtorim, Reginaldo Lourenco, recently dashed off a letter to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant drawing his attention to the issues concerning the structure of the 150-year old hospital.
“Till date this old hospital serves as an important district hospital to the non-Coronavirus patients of South Goa as the opening of new district hospital has been delayed for non-pandemic patients.
Saying that non-Covid critical patients from South Goa are finding it difficult to avail timely health emergency assistance due to the bad shape of the structure and lack of facilities, Reginaldo had pointed out that it is disturbing to see not only critical but even non-critical patients being frequently referred to the tertiary Goa Medical College Hospital, Bambolim.
He made a fervent plea to the Chief Minister to get the historic Hospicio Hospital repaired for good as it will be a boon to the State’s health sector.
