PANAJI
Finally, the new executive committee of the Goa Association of Resident Doctors (GARD) took charge at the Goa Medical College and Hospital, with Dr Aayush Sharma as its new president and Dr Dhairyasheel Patil as vice-president.
Dr Viraj Dessai is the general secretary, and Dr Soumik Sen is the joint secretary.
The panel took office at an annual general meeting held at the GMC, and the installation ceremony was also attended by Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, GMC Dean Dr Shivanand Bandekar, and other senior doctors.
Rane, in his address to the resident doctors, pledged to study the demands made by GARD, which he said seemed legitimate. Among the demands made by GARD is one for a new hostel, besides a hike in pay.
Meanwhile, Dr Bandekar, while addressing the doctors, said that the GMC has nominated Doctor Relation Officers (DROs) so doctors can contact them in times of need.
He also added that a ‘hostel committee’ has been formed, comprising top professors and wardens, which will sit and deliberate on the demand for a new GARD hostel.
“We’ll assess the needs. As it is urgently needed, we will work to have a new GARD hostel,” Dr Bandekar said.
Meanwhile, Rane has announced that the entire GMC will be covered with CCTV cameras funded through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives in a month.
The cameras will be installed in hostels, corridors, and other areas where surveillance is needed, Rane added.
Greater CCTV coverage was one of the main demands of GARD when it spearheaded the recent strike as part of the nationwide protests by doctors over workplace security in the wake of the rape and murder of a postgraduate student doctor at Kolkata’s government-run RG Kar hospital.
In the past, the Association has played a significant role in exposing to the government infrastructure and medical supply shortfalls at the GMC.
