MARGAO
Even as Hospicio’s Out Patient Departments were all shifted to the new district hospital on Saturday, the government has directed the district hospital authorities to make available all amenities to ensure that citizens are not forced to go to private labs and hospitals for blood tests.
A day after the Health Minister visited the district hospital to take stock of the situation and ensure there is smooth shifting of the Hospicio services, the ODPs were all shifted to the district hospital on Saturday morning.
A number of patients were seen at the district hospital to visit the OPDs. Those who had come to the Hospicio were advised to go to the district hospital to avail the OPD services.
Hospicio district hospital medical Superintendent Dr Deepa Correia informed that all the OPDs from Hospicio have been shifted. “Today, the first day of the shifting was relatively a smooth affair. We put in place seating arrangements at the new district hospital to ensure patients are not put to inconvenience,” she said.
Dr Deepa said the Hospicio building was presently playing host to the casualty and surgery units, adding that these two will be shifted to the district hospital once the CT-scan facility is commissioned.
The OPDs, which were run from congested rooms at the Hospicio, now enjoy a spacious environment at the district hospital building. This is the second time over the last one year that the Hospicio OPDs have been shifted to the district hospital.
This time around, the OPDs are most likely to stay at the district hospital, with the Health Minister categorically ruling out the possibility of making it a Covid facility unless there’s an emergency. “There's now no looking back. We have to move forward. This huge facility cannot be blocked for Covid when cases have come down. Even if there's a spurt of Covid, the government would work out a solution. Serious Covid patients can be accommodated at the GMC Super Specialty block. If need be, we can even notify the ESI hospital, Margao, as a Covid hospital,” the Health Minister added.
Departments such as medicine, paediatrics, maternity etc, have already been shifted to the district hospital.
In fact, the Health Minister has given the go-ahead for the Health Director Dr Ira Almeida and Hospicio Medical Superintendent Dr Deepa to utilize the third floor, which was reserved for Covid patients, for the medicine ward.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister has said that no citizen from Margao and surrounding areas should go to a private lab, insisting that all the blood tests are done at the district hospital.
When the Health Director pointed out that certain tests have been outsourced to private labs, the Minister instructed that all the facilities are put up right at the district hospital.
