MARGAO
The South Goa district hospital is back in the news again for the wrong reasons, after a lady patient, believed to be terminally ill, could not receive treatment at the premiere government hospital for want of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) facility.
In fact, the lady patient was referred to a private city-based hospital if one goes by the hospital papers. District hospital officials, however, claimed the hospital wanted to refer the patient to the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim, but the patient insisted on getting admitted in a private hospital.
The incident occurred on Thursday when the patient was brought to the district hospital. Preliminary examination of the patient in the hospital revealed that her oxygen concentration was too low and she would require ICU and oxygen facility.
While the hospital papers suggests that the district authorities referred the patient to city-based private hospital, South Goa district hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Rajendra Borkar shed light on the episode, saying the doctors on duty wanted to refer the patient to the Goa Medical College, Bambolim, but the patient insisted on going to a private hospital.
Dr Borkar conceded that the patient could not get treatment in the district hospital for the simple reason that the hospital has no ICU facility. “The patient is suffering from colon cancer. When she was examined in the district hospital, her oxygen concentration was too low and she required hospitalisation in an ICU unit,” Dr Borkar said.
He added: “It’s not that the patient was referred out of the hospital for want of oxygen. The hospital has enough stock of oxygen, including liquid oxygen. But, the patient needed to be admitted in an ICU facility, and since the district hospital has no ICU facility, she had to be referred out.”
Dr Borkar, however hastened to add that the patient was not referred to the private hospital, but that the patient opted for a private hospital when the district hospital wanted to refer her to the GMC.
Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas, however, slammed the government for the neglect of the South Goa district hospital and referring patients to private hospitals. “This government is on privatisation mode. But, what is required is to privatise the BJP government. The lady patient hails from my constituency and she had gone to the district hospital for treatment when she was referred to a private hospital for want of facilities,” he said.
He added: “If people had money, why they would come to a government hospital. Just because they cannot afford treatment in private hospitals, they look forward for medical facilities at the government-run hospitals.”
The Benaulim MLA requested Health Minister Vishwajit Rane to visit the South Goa district hospital next week and put things in place. “We know that the Goa Medical College hospital is much better, let the Health Minister initiate measures and give relief to the patients visiting the district hospital,” he said, adding that the Health Minister should invite all the concerned MLAs during his inspection of the South Goa district hospital to put things in place.
Venzy suggested that if the government is hell bent in referring patients to the private hospitals, the government should take over the private hospitals for the benefit of the patients. “During Covid pandemic, the government had taken over a number of private hospitals. If they cannot run the South Goa district hospital, let the government take over the private hospitals for the benefit of the patients,” he added.
Hospital equipped with ICU but lacks experts to man facility
MARGAO: Strange this may seem, but true that the South Goa district hospital is equipped with state-of-the-art medical facilities, including an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), but the facility is virtually on a sleep mode for want of experts to man the facility.
That’s not all. The district hospital is equipped with oxygen and ventilators, thanks to the system that was put in place after the second Covid wave, but critically ill patients cannot avail these facilities in view of the absence of manpower to man the ICU facility.
After the controversy over the episode wherein the district hospital referred a terminally ill patient to a private hospital, inquiries by The Goan has revealed that the South Goa district hospital is equipped with a state-of-the-art 10-bedded ICU facility in the hospital. In fact, all the necessary equipment is in place at the ICU, but patients cannot use the facility for want of expert manpower.
In fact, for want of the ICU facilities, patients are either referred to the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim or patient use the option of getting admitted in the ICUs at private hospitals.
A senior health official informed that it is beyond the management of the district hospital to run the ICU facility for the simple reason that the government hasn’t yet deputed the expert manpower at the hospital. “Since the ICU has to function round-the-clock, the facility is to be manned by cardiologists and medical officers to work in shifts. Besides, we need trained nurses to work in an ICU environment, besides multi-tasking staff,” a senior official told The Goan.
The official pointed out that the government is aware of the ground reality at the district hospital, saying the proposal to depute experts to man the ICU is under the consideration of the government.
The official added: “What are the officials supposed to do if the government does not draft the cardiologists and medical officers to run the ICU facility at the district hospital. The ball lies in the court of the government to take a decision.”
