MARGAO
Asserting that the South Goa district hospital will be named as “Hospicio” “ after the 150-year-old existing hospital started by Padre Miranda, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Tuesday said the government is working on a different model at the district hospital, wherein certain medical facilities will be outsourced to specialised agencies so that people of Margao and South Goa need not come to the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bamboim for treatment.
Saying that Salcete will be on his top priority on the health front, Vishwajit said Madgavkars and Saxttikars are facing a big problem with Apollo Hospital shut down and there’s no cardiac care available in the city with heart attacks and strokes increasing by the day, adding said that the government is toying with the idea of procuring Apollo’s cath lab machine on hire or other arrangement for the benefit of the people.
“Hospicio has a rich history. And, the government is of the opinion that the new district hospital should be named as Hospicio to continue with the rich medical tradition. We expect the new district hospital to be ready within a couple of months time,” the Health Minister said, after inaugurating a mega health camp at Carmona on Tuesday in the presence of MLA Churchill Alemao.
Saying that he is personally monitoring the construction of the South Goa district hospital, Vishwajit said “may be it will take 2-3 months here and there to complete the work. Once commissioned more than 40 per cent of the work load on the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim will be reduced. We are working on a different model wherein certain medical facilities at the district hospital will be outsourced for the benefit of the patients from Salcete and South Goa,” he said.
While saying that Salcete will be on his top priority list on the health sector, Vishwajit said the new district hospital will get all the facilities and patients need not come to Panaji. “Right from ICU to cardiac problems, the district hospital will have all these facilities. All specialised services will be available at Margao. I understand the problems faced by people of Salcete as Apollo hospital is shut down and Hospicio has no facility to take care of heart issues.
“The government will soon make available a cardiac ambulance at the disposal of Hospicio, but there’s lot more to be done. Since Apollo hospital has a cath lab machine, the government is exploring the possibility of hiring the cath lab from Apollo. Let’s see, a solution will be worked out soon,” he said.
Promising Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao to set up a health centre with a 12-bedded hospital at Benaulim, Vishwajit also promised the Benaulim MLA that the government will look into the demand for the absorption of contract nurses in the health services. “There are many well educated nurses from Salcete. We can certainly absorb them in the health services,” he said, after Churchill made a plea to him to regularise the contract nurses.
In his address, Churchill made an impassioned plea to the Health Minister to expedite setting up of the sanctioned health centre at Benaulim, saying Salcete’s coastal belt has no health centre, with people being made to either visit the Chinchinim health centre or the Cansaulim centre for their requirements.
