PANAJI
Authorities may have denied that diagnostic equipment at the Panaji Urban Health Centre is all in good condition and working, yet there is irrefutable evidence that patients are being advised to do some of the diagnostic tests with private players on grounds that their equipment is broken down.
The Goan had reported last week that patients who were queuing up at the Panaji Health Centre amidst the recent surge of dengue cases and their blood samples taken for tests were being sent back without the results two days later proffering the reason that their equipment is not functioning.
However, the health officer in-charge of the Urban Health Centre Dr Sunita Arlekar, denied it and claimed that all the equipment is in working condition. For tests that are not available at the centre, blood samples are sent to the Asilo district hospital at Mapusa and the results come within two days, she claimed.
However, some health officers attached to the health centre are indeed recommending patients to a private diagnostic centre for a 'CBC' (complete blood count) test.
A CBC gives multiple blood examination results including RBC, WBC, platelets, hemoglobin, hematocrit (measure of how much of your blood is made up of red blood cells), mean corpuscular volume (a measure of the average size of red blood cells).
A pucca written note signed by "health officer" clearly recommends to a patient that a 'CBC test' be done and even recommends a particular diagnostic lab in the city.
Earlier last month, a similar case had been exposed in the South Goa District Hospital where a doctor on the staff recommended admission of a patient to a private hospital due to lack of ICU facilities there. The incident snowballed into a major controversy and Opposition parties are now setting deadlines to the government to provide full-fledged ICU facilities at the South Goa district hospital.
