PANAJI
The total budgetary allocations to health services and Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) were reduced and there is need to see the budget restored and increased to meet population health needs. Stating this Prof Kheya Furtado, associate professor of Public Health, Goa Institute of Management (GIM) stressed on increasing the spending on secondary care services.
“Goa spends a disproportionate amount of its total health budget on GMC only, which is meant to serve as a tertiary care facility (44% of combined Health Services and GMC allocations). While the current spending levels are required, it indicates that a disproportionate number of episodes of care that should be taken care of at primary and secondary levels are being referred to GMC,” said Prof Furtado.
She stated that there is need to strengthen our secondary care services, not just through money spent on district hospital buildings, but on facilitating good quality service delivery that people can trust.
“This would improve geographical and timely access to care for the population and will simultaneously reduce the strain on GMC, to allow for the prioritization of cases that require tertiary and specialty care,” said Prof Furtado.
"Goa reports a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes and hypertension among men and women, compared to the national figures for these diseases (NFHS-5 data). We also simultaneously report a lower proportion of persons screened for cancers. These numbers indicate that we need to significantly increase our non-communicable disease prevention and control services to reach the entire population," said Prof Furtado, adding, “Funding for these services needs to be directed at the primary care facilities (health and wellness centres), recruitment and training of adequate numbers of health workers and at district health facilities.”
Commenting on Panaji's low ranking in the national pollution index Prof Rohit Prabhudesai, associate professor at GIM said, “Panaji has been ranked at 230 out of 389 cities in India’s pollution index. None of the Goan cities feature in the top 100 cities in the Swachh Bharat rankings. There should be more fund allocation for addressing issues surrounding cleanliness in Goa. The allocation of funds by the state should be provided in a systematic way, rather than waiting for municipalities to turn up and do their job.”
