MARGAO
In an incident that raised many an eyebrow, the false ceiling of the third floor of the South Goa district hospital commissioned just a couple of months ago last year, came crashing down on Saturday noon.
Sources said the false ceiling made up of metal material came down in the ward which played host to Covid patients. Sources said Multi-Task Staff (MTS) workers were in the ward at the time of the incident, but there was no one, neither Nodal officer nor Hospicio officials to confirm whether anyone was injured in the incident.
Fatorda police station in charge PI Kapil Nayak, however, informed that though no information was received by the police in connection with the incident, police inquiries revealed that a worker sustained minor injuries in the incident. The incident prompted the authorities to shift the patients from the ward, he added.
The incident was immediately intimated to the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC), which had executed the project through contractors. The ward was inspected in the evening itself by GSIDC officials and it was revealed that the corrosion of the butterfly clamp was the cause behind the incident.
When contacted, GSIDC General Manager, Jude Carvalho told The Goan that a small portion of the false ceiling of the hospital came down, apparently because of the corrosion of the butterfly clamp. “Our people immediately inspected the site and it was revealed that seepage of water onto the false ceiling corroded the butterfly clamp. Our people have been there in the hospital and they have rectified the leakage from above”, he said.
To a question, he pointed out that the contractor, who executed work on the false ceiling, has been told to carry out the repair work, adding that the work should be completed in a day or two. “As per the terms of the contract, the contractor is liable for the maintenance for three years. The contactor will start the work in a day or two”, he added.
The same waiting to happen at Hospicio
The wooden ceiling roof of the Medicine Ward showing signs of crumbling. Santosh Mirajkar
The medicine ward at Hospicio. Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO: An SOS is waiting for Health Minister’s kind attention in the Health department, with an urgent plea for the shifting of Hospicio medicine section to the South Goa district hospital on priority to tide over the situation in the over 150-year old hospital.
The Health department has till date not responded to Hospicio’s plea to shift the male and female medicine wards to the new district hospital. Hospicio doctors, however, say with COVID positivity rate on the decline, with around 500 beds lying vacant in the 568-bedded district hospital, the government should think afresh and at least Hospicio medicine section in the imposing and spacious district hospital building.
Officials in the know say the Health department should take a call on shifting Hospicio medicine ward to the new district hospital in view of the prevailing Covid situation with a condition that the medicine ward returns back to Hospicio in the event of the third wave.
A doctor in the know told The Goan that Hospicio’s medicine ward is indeed craving for attention. “The admission rate in the medicine ward is close to 80-100 per cent with cases such as malaria and vector borne diseases on the rise”, the doctor said.
The doctor added: “Just take a look at the wooden false ceiling in the medicine ward and the situation is indeed bad, with the wooden plans posing danger to the patients on the beds”.
Pointing out that close to 150 patients attend to the medicine OPD almost every day, sources said the time has come for the government to take a call on improving the infrastructure.
Sources said shifting of the medicine ward may also help the surgery ward to accommodate patients with surgeries resuming at Hospicio.
Officials say the male medicine ward can be very well accommodate on one of the floors of the district hospital, totally isolated from the COVID wards. “Right now, we have only around 60 COVID patients at the 568 bedded hospital. A system can be put in place wherein the medicine ward is shifted in the district hospital, totally isolated from the COVID section”, remarked an official. The official added: “We understand that COVID is the priority in this pandemic. We are all geared for the third wave, but we can use the district hospital space to house the medicine ward with a condition the ward is shifted back to Hospicio in the event of the third wave”.
Hospicio male and female medicine wards were in the past shifted to the district hospital along with the OPDs. The services, however, all shifted back to Hospicio just before the second Covid wave hit the state earlier this year.
