With Shripad Naik having been stripped of the Ayush portfolio, there is now a ray of hope for medical facilities to be restored at the old Ribandar hospital.
Let us hope that the new Ayush Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will respect the past of the Old Ribandar Hospital which was Asia’s first Medical school. This great heritage structure was designed to house state of the art medical facilities. Shripad senselessly proposed to convert the premises to an Ayush Center.
Besides the people of Ribandar, the medical facilities at the Old Ribandar Hospital would also hugely benefit neighbouring Chimbel, Merces, Old Goa and residents of Divar.
On October 8 last year, local MLA Babush Monserrate promised us that the Health Center would start as a 30 bedded unit with a 24X7 Casualty cum Trauma unit equipped with all the required facilities while it would be expanded in stages to be a full fledged hospital. We will now not be fooled with a cosmetic day dispensary as an attempt to hoodwink us. It’s time to say enough is enough.
