In August 2013, the late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar declared constructing a hospital at Tuem where one lakh people reside in a municipality and 20 villages. The Rs 52 crore 100-bed hospital was completed in September 2021 by the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC). Only a dialysis unit was functioning while the hospital remained empty with the govt paying Rs 3.4 lakh per month towards the electricity bill. Several reasons were offered for the hospital not being fully operational: GSIDC did not handover the hospital to the health services, necessary equipment had to be bought, funds not made available, and staff not recruited. Because of the pressure by the Tuem Hospital Kuruti Samiti, which had warned in Oct 2025 of an agitation if the hospital was not commissioned in two months, and by the local MLA, the ‘comatose’ hospital was rejuvenated by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and the Health Minister Vishwajit Rane. It is anybody’s guess as to why the hospital was kept idle. Was it to help the several private hospitals in the vicinity? Kudos to the Tuem locals for their forbearance to see their healthcare dream come true.
