MARGAO
A mega health camp held in Margao on Saturday saw Health Minister Vishwajit Rane singing praises of Congress-turned-BJP MLA Digambar Kamat as he recalled how the former Congress chief minister had backed him to the hilt to take medical and health services to the nook and corner of the State.
Publicly apologizing to Kamat for the harassment he might have meted out to him during his stint as health Minister in his Cabinet, Rane termed Kamat as his leader, adding that he will always remain with the Margao MLA for guiding him the right path.
Vishwajit Rane was the Health Minister in Digambar Kamat-led Congress government between 2007-12.
Devoting a significant portion of his speech at mega health camp, organised at the initiative of the Health Minister, to shower praises on Digambar Kamat, the Health Minister termed Kamat as an iconic leader, one who had given sanctions to set up health services at Sanquelim, Valpoi, Bicholim, Mapusa and the district Hospital in South Goa. “Kamat had never said no to proposals to take the health services to the villages and town. He had never blocked files when it came to health services. That’s the reason why one will find so many health centres and hospitals today, which were proposed by him and approved by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat”, he said.
The Health Minister reminded that constructing buildings is not enough to take health and medical services to the villages and towns. “What is important is that these centres are loaded with life-saving equipment and manpower. Only then we can say that the hospital is functioning properly”, he said.
He added: The South Goa district hospital is in need of a Cath lab, a full-fledged neurology department, and an orthopaedic surgeon. Why should people from South Goa go to the Goa Medical College and hospital, Bambolim to avail these services. Similarly, the health centres and hospitals opened at Curchorem, Tuem and other places need to be loaded with equipment and manpower. I will take the MLAs of all these constituencies to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to sanction the life-saving equipment and manpower to make these centres fully functional”.
Reminding that the 108 ambulance service was started by him during Kamat’s stint as Chief Minister of Goa, Rane said credit goes to Kamat for sanctioning the project which has helped to save lives and offer timely treatment to victims.
Referring to the South Goa district hospital, the Health Minister again gave credit to Digambar Kamat for launching the work on the hospital during his tenure as CM. He, however, said that the district hospital should not remain a district hospital, but a State-level hospital offering all types of services to the people of South Goa.
Rane recalled the introduction of mobile clinics and mammography vans in the State during his stint as health Minister in the Kamat dispensation which had helped the people of the State. “The concept introduced by him under Kamat’s leadership is being reintroduced now in the form of mobile clinics and dental vans etc”, he added.
