MARGAO
The relatives of the lady cancer patient who was referred to a private hospital by the South Goa district hospital on Thursday has claimed that the hospital doctors only gave the option of referring the patient to private hospitals and spoke nothing about referring the patient to the Goa Medical College and hospital, Bambolim for treatment.
A day after the South Goa district hospital maintained that the doctors had given the patient the option to be referred to the GMC, the patient’s husband Herald and son Dussel Fernandes asserted that the GMC option was never given to the patient by the concerned doctor.
Addressing the media in the presence of Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas, the father-son duo refuted the claims made by the district hospital that the patient was given the option to go to the GMC, Bambolim.
“This option was never conveyed to us by the doctor. On the contrary, the doctor on duty gave us the option of admitting the patient to two private hospitals”, the duo claimed.
The patient’s husband demanded to know why his wife, who is a terminally ill patient, was not referred to the Goa Medical College hospital if the district hospital had no ventilators or ICU facility to treat the patient. “We were only told to choose one of the two private hospitals. The GMC option was never given to us”, he said, adding that they are now trying to shift the patient from the private hospital to the GMC.
The patient’s son Dussel has expressed his shock and disappointment that the district hospital has no basic amenities to treat the patient. “When we took our mother to the district hospital, the doctor said the patient need to be put on a ventilator, but the hospital has no ICU facility. When we asked for the option, the doctor said he would coordinate with the private hospital. The GMC option was never recommended by the district hospital’, he added.
The Benaulim MLA reiterated his demand that either the Health Minister Vishwajit Rane should visit the district hospital next week, or the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant inspect the hospital. “The Health Minister should tell the public whether he has moved the file to the Finance department to tone up the infrastructure in the district hospital or the file is stuck up in the Finance headed by the Chief Minister”, Venzy said.
Saying that complaints are galore that hospital has been acting in a rude and arrogant manner, the Benaulim MLA said that arrogance arises when the staff is made to work overtime and in stressful environment because the hospital is understaffed.
He said if the Health Minister cannot manage the district hospital, Rane should recommend to the Chief Minister to privatize some of the services by referring the patients to private hospitals at government cost.
