MARGAO
Hazard a guess. How many beds can be accommodated on the top two floors of the South Goa district hospital for Covid patients if the government shelves the plan to get in a private medical college in the hospital building?
If the GSIDC officials are to be believed, a minimum of 250 beds could easily fit on the top two floors if the government takes a decision to utilize the entire hospital building floor for the benefit of the common man.
In plain terms, the top two floors of the South Goa district hospital has a capacity to accommodate beds equivalent to or slightly more than the 220-bedded dedicated COVID hospital housed at the ESI hospital, Margao, if only the government scraps the private college plan.
A senior GSIDC official told The Goan that the South Goa district hospital was initially designed for an 800-bedded hospital, to cater to the health requirements of not just of Salcete, but entire South Goa.
Minus the top two floors, the bed strength of the South Goa district hospital has come down to around 354 beds.
Officials, however, pointed out that even if the government decides to open the top two hospital building floors for patients in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, these floors will not resemble like the normal government hospital wards.
And, the reason is not far too seek. GSIDC officials pointed out that these top two floors have already been modified keeping in mind the government’s proposal to set up a nursing college in the hospital building. “Unlike the remaining three floors, the top two floors have spacious lecture halls and other rooms meant for the proposed nursing college. These two floors are not open like the other three wards”, the official said. He, however, hastened to add that the government can still put the top two floors for use by arranging beds in the lecture halls and rooms. “Again modifying these two wards to make them look like the normal wards will involve huge cost. What the government can do at the most is arrange the beds in the two wards without making changes’, the official added.
When work on the South Goa district hospital was executed in 2010, it was meant to be an 800-bedded hospital project. The change in political guard in the state after the 2012 Assembly election saw changes being mooted in the hospital project after then Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar assumed office.
After host of meetings in Margao and in the capital city, the government decided to utilize the hospital building’s top two floors to house a nursing college on the plea that a 500-bedded district hospital will suffice for South Goa.
Reports of housing a private college on the district hospital’s top two floors came to the fore during the tenure of the present government, with GSIDC officials in private saying that though the top two floors were modified for a nursing college, these can play host to a medical college after effecting minor changes.
According to GSIDC officials ...
>> Unlike the remaining three floors, the top two floors in the District Hospital have spacious lecture halls and other rooms meant for the proposed nursing college
>> Again modifying these two wards to make them look like normal wards will involve huge cost. What the government can do at the most is arrange for the beds without making changes
>> The South Goa district hospital was initially designed for an 800-bedded hospital, to cater to health requirements of people from not just Salcete, but entire South Goa
