PANAJI
The grave picture of the emerging Covid scenario in Goa has now been confirmed with Health Minister Vishwajit Rane admitting that the Covid bed capacity at Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bamboilim and South Goa District Hospital, Margao, has almost been exhausted with merely 30 to 35 beds being vacant currently in both the facilities put together.
Rane briefed the media following the weekly meeting of the expert committee which was convened with the primary intent of assessing Goa’s rising cases and chalking out a plan to combat the same before things go awry.
The need for enhancing daily testing capacity to 3,000, the urgent requirement of implementing restrictions by the disaster management committee and the foremost task of covering all eligible citizens under the vaccination drive were among the matters discussed.
The Health Minister minced no words in admitting that the Covid bed availability at GMCH and SGDH has reached its saturation point while informing that around 10 Covid patients are currently being accommodated on stretchers.
“The Covid bed capacity at hospitals is getting full by the day. As we speak, we are reaching full bed capacity in SGDH and GMC. Hardly 10-15 beds remain vacant at GMCH out of 150 Covid beds and SGDH has only 15 to 20 beds free out of 200. Every day, we are getting admissions to anywhere between 30 and 40 per day. This is increasing and the projections are higher. There are 10 patients on trolleys at GMCH. Spike is slowly moving upwards,” Rane stated.
He added that the alarming trend requires the state administration to put restrictions in place within the next two to three days so as not to be caught on the wrong foot.
“In case of a further spike which could cross 300 cases a day, we should be ready with all infrastructure and facilities to deal with it. People need to get vaccinated, tested and follow norms,” said the Health Minister while lamenting that as against the other states where people are queuing up to take the vaccine, in Goa, the Health Department is finding it hard to mobilize people to get vaccinated. Only 22,836 have received the complete Covid vaccination course of two jabs in Goa till date while 1.13 have received the first dose.
To prevent the further spread of Covid-19 in Goa, Rane reiterated his long-standing support for enhancing restrictions in public areas. However, he continued to remain non-committal on the nature and intensity of these restrictions, especially in regards to the persons entering Goa by land.
Responding to a query pertaining to this specific concern, Rane said, “We know that a lot of tourists and travellers are coming into Goa. Tracking of travellers has to be done. But how will we check travellers coming in by road or by train? It is a logistical nightmare. As a result, the government has to take some steps today to keep Goa safe otherwise we will become another Covid destination like Maharashtra and Karnataka.”
