MARGAO
After days of indecisiveness, resulting in a week-long delay, the district authorities have finally shifted the Covid swab collection and testing facility to the spacious Ravindra Bhavan, Margao.
Without wasting more time, South Goa district hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Deepa Corriea commissioned the facility on Thursday at 2 pm.
Swab testing will be carried out at the Ravindra Bhavan from 8 am to 8 pm every day, including Sundays, Dr Corriea stated.
The Medical Superintendent further said that Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) and swab collection to RTPCR will be carried out at the Ravindra Bbhavan daily, beginning Thursday noon.
It’s almost a week now since the district hospital doctors had been pleading with the administration to shift the swab collection facility from the hospital to contain the rush of people and to use the space for expansion of Covid treatment for patients when they visit the hospital.
While Ravindra Bhavan was almost finalised by the administration, given the huge space and parking arrangements, the authorities dilly-dallied on the place and instead started looking out for an alternate site without any rhyme or reason.
In fact, the district administration had even gone to the extent of requisitioning the Presentation Convent Higher Secondary School building, before better sense prevailed after the nuns staying in the campus raised an alarm and the proposal had to be dropped after the intervention of the Chief Secretary.
While this happened on Sunday, the administration toyed with the proposal of shifting swab collection centre to the Nehru stadium, Fatorda but the idea was dropped and the authorities began exploring the possibility of shifting the centre to Multipurpose Centre, Borda on Wedneday.
That the Swab collection centre will be finally shifted to the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao became clear on Thursday morning when a team of Health officials including Dr Ira Almedia inspected the Ravindra Bhavan.
In a tweet, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai said he is extremely happy that Fatorda Forward had managed to get the film shooting culminated at the Ravindra Bhavan, which was supposed to go on till May 12. “My act has paved the way for the shifting of the swab collection centre from the District hospital, which means more beds for patients in need and less deaths”, he added.
