PANAJI: The sole cardiac care ambulance meant to serve the people of Panaji is now stationed outside Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's residence.
The cardiac care ambulance, meant to be stationed at the emergency care center (ECC) in Panaji, run by GVK EMRI, is now sitting pretty outside the Chief Minister's residence, sources revealed. The ambulance hasn't been available at the emergency care center, ever since the ailing Chief Minister returned to Goa from AIIMS, Delhi.
As of now, the ECC has no ambulance, not even the standard one, available for emergencies. If a patient needs one, an ambulance has to be summoned from GMC, Bambolim.
It takes an ambulance between 7 to 17 minutes to reach the ECC. Cardiac care ambulances are equipped to deal with cardiac arrests and anginas (the condition moments before the patient gets a cardiac arrest).
The ambulance placed outside the Urban Health Center (UHC) next to the ECC is not a cardiac care ambulance, and is meant to serve the UHC, and not the ECC.
The ECC in Panaji was inaugurated on September 12, and initially started off as a 12-hour service. It was upgraded to a 24-hour service towards the end of September. The ECC gets around one or two cases a day, and patients are stabilised here, before being transferred to the GMC where he/she is referred for further treatment.
When it was launched, the ECC had one doctor and one emergency medical technician, but now it has two doctors working on shifts.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane had explained that the ECC was started to help Panjimites, who, instead of rushing to Bambolim, now had a closer option. Rane had said that the center would be especially beneficial to people who needed a doctor in case of a night emergency.
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Miracles can happen:
Rane on CM's health
PANAJI: Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Thursday, while insisting that disclosing the Chief Minister's health status was the "prerogative of his family," also said, on the issue of the CM's health, that "miracles can happen." When pressed to explain what this meant, he added, "No matter what ailment they're suffering from, people defy medical science and get better. Let us just hope and pray."
Speaking about the care that the CM was receiving, Rane said, "He's being monitored from here (GMC), the doctors in AIIMS, and his doctors in America."
Rane was briefing media persons in his office when he was asked about the health status of the CM. Said Rane, "I can't give the CM's health update. He is unwell, and it's the prerogative of the family to give a health update." He also insisted that the CM's illness is a "personal family matter."
Rane is not the first person in the cabinet to talk of a miracle being needed for Parrikar, with Power Minister Nilesh Cabral also saying "We pray that a miracle will happen" when the CM came back to Goa from AIIMS some ten days ago.
Meanwhile, Rane also dismissed queries about him being the front runner for the post of CM, saying, "There's no question of a new CM, since our CM is there."
