PANAJI
In a move which virtually rejects the proposal of the Church authority to let it run a small charitable clinic and retain a chapel inside the premises, the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) on Thursday has warned of "criminal action" against those ‘unauthorizedly interfering’ with the old Hospicio Hospital premises at Margao.
"Such acts will be constituted as unauthorized interference with Government property,” the DHS warning said.
According to the health department the old Hospicio heritage structure will be renovated as per the availability of funds. It has been planned to be used for a full-fledged Nursing School, a pediatric ward and a permanent venue for District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC).
The project will be put into action shortly for the benefit of the medical fraternity and during the course of setting up of the above institutes/school the whole vacated premises of Hospicio Hospital will be renovated.
Efforts to contact the Church for comments did not meet with any response.
The heritage tile-roofed edifice which formerly housed the South Goa District Hospital for decades before the new one was built in the outskirts of Margao, is over 150 years old and has been vacant for over a year.
The Archdiocese of Goa & Daman had recently written to the DHS requesting possession of part of the property where it proposed to run a charitable healthcare centre. The edifice was put to use as a hospital more than 150 years ago by a Catholic priest Fr Antonio Joao de Miranda.
Recently, a section of residents of Margao had also voiced the demand that a healthcare centre be set up there to cater to primary healthcare needs of residents. The argument put forth is that the building will crumble if not utilised and maintained.
Only the 'Blood Bank' and some other minor services continue to operate in a small portion of the old Hospicio property which also has a Chapel where the Holy Spirit parish Church conducts Eucharistic service (mass) every Saturday.
The Goan had a few months ago highlighted the sordid state of affairs at the building complex, where bushes and thick growth of vegetation happened post the last monsoon.
According to recorded oral histories in Margao, Fr Miranda conceived the idea of Hospicio back in the second half of the nineteenth century reportedly after poor and sick people were dropping dead on the city's streets with no hospital or any medical facility in the vicinity.
According to one account, the priest raised funds by going around door-to-door seeking donations from families in Margao and surrounding areas for the Hospicio.
