MARGAO
After a series of flip flops by Health Minister Vishwajit Rane for over half-a-decade now, the private medical college at the South Goa district hospital has come back to haunt people from South Goa, with the controversial proposal taking centrestage in the just concluded session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, bringing to the fore a host of unanswered questions.
Perhaps for the first time in over half a decade, the private medical college has come in sharp focus when Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in his budget speech announced the setting up of a medical college at the South Goa district hospital. The Chief Minister’s speech did not exactly say the proposed medical college at Margao will be set up by private players, but the discussions that preceded in the House wherein Health Minister Vishwajit Rane batted for the private medical college under the Centre’s NITI AYOG’s policy indicates the Chief Minister’s intention.
A host of questions, however, remains unanswered. One, How would the people of South Goa benefit from the proposed private medical college when the district hospital has been set up with the avowed objective to take care of the health and medical needs of the citizens. Is it not a sheer coincidence that the current manpower shortage, including doctors, plaguing the South Goa district hospital, has come at a time when the government has unveiled plans to set up the private medical college, with an assurance that the arrangement will tide over the manpower crunch?
That’s not all. Since the original plan of the South Goa district hospital building was intended to house a 800-bedded hospital to cater to the growing requirements of citizens from the district, questions have come to the fore whether the hospital has been restricted to a 500-bedded hospital, probably with private players setting their eyes on the prime building space to set up the proposed private medical college on the top two floors of the building.
These questions assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the Health Minister’s flip flop on the issue, with Rane batting for the private medical college as well as a nursing college in the district hospital building.
Around 2019, the Health Minister came clear in support of a private medical college, saying the State will adopt the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel super-speciality hospital in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city, to pave way for the setting up a private medical college at the district hospital.
In fact, Rane had even announced that the government is in the process of shortlisting a consultant to prepare a project report and oversee the setting up of the private medical college at the district hospital.
Two years later on October 15, 2021, the Health Minister announced during his visit to South Goa district hospital that the proposed medical college planned at the district hospital has been shelved, asserting that only a nursing college will come up at the district hospital building.
Kamat reserves comments on govt’s announcement
MARGAO: Congress-turned-BJP Margao MLA, Digambar Kamat, considered the architect behind the South Goa district hospital during his stint as the Congress Chief Minister between 2007-2012, has reserved his comments on Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s proposal to set up a medical college at the South Goa district hospital.
“The Chief Minister has only made an announcement to set up a medical college at the South Goa district hospital. It’s too early to comment what exactly is the medical college all about, whether the college will be set up by private players and how it will benefit the people,” Kamat told The Goan on Sunday.
In the same vein, the Margao MLA conceded that the South Goa district hospital project was set in motion during his stint as the State’s Chief Minister between 2007-12. In fact, Kamat had been critical of successive BJP governments, right from 2012 till his return to the BJP last year, for the utter neglect of the prestigious South Goa district hospital project over the years. In fact, the district hospital project had come in handy for Kamat and his party to fire guns at the BJP for its failure to take the hospital project to its logical conclusion.
