In dire straits, Hospicio pins hopes on shift for turnaround

Margao: Seven years ago, on June 15, 2012 to be precise, then health minister Laxmikant Parsekar on his first visit to the Hospicio, Margao, after taking charge of his portfolio, had expressed his disgust over the state of affairs of the South Goa district hospital.

“There are a lot many shortcomings which I observed in the Hospicio. I saw two patients sharing one cot and several patients without any cot at all, sleeping on the ground. There is a shortage of linen and patients have to use their own bedsheets. It pains me to see this. The occupancy of the hospital is almost 1.5 times its capacity and so, obviously, the available facilities are overburdened,” Parsekar had then told the media.

Cut to the present. The situation has only grown from bad to worse. Hospicio’s cup of woes is overflowing. While the government has turned its attention to the completion of the under-construction district hospital in Margao, the Hospicio presents a sorry picture of neglect.

Worse, with the PWD declaring the second and third floors of the hospital’s annexe building as ‘unsafe’, several wards housed in this building had to be accommodated in the main one, thereby drastically affecting its carrying capacity. Moreover, the government failed in adopting most of the recommendations made by the chairman of the Hospicio’s visiting committee, Venkatesh Hegde, nearly two years ago.

Pointing out to two cases where a mother and her new born baby were sent from the Hospicio to primary health centres in distant Balli and Sanguem on the second day of the delivery, primarily owing to inadequate beds, the report had pointed out that “unless two news wards are constructed for medicine and gynaecology departments, this problem cannot get solved.”

Hegde had recommended shifting of the entire forensic department to Monte Hill, where a new morgue has been constructed, so as to make space for more wards. The report had also made a compelling case for increasing the number of beds by shifting some wards like dialysis, ENT, psychiatry, etc, to the old collectorate building.

Hedge had also urged the government to fill up the post of bio-chemist, “in whose absence a heart patient cannot undergo the required tests for starting the crucial line of treatment at the Hospicio”. Hegde, when contacted, confirmed that except for filling up of some vacancies of doctors and staff, there has been no change in the situation.

With the new district hospital getting ready, Hegde has now strongly suggested that the government seriously consider shifting of some departments, like psychiatry, paediatrics and medicine, to the new premises on a priority basis.

Medical superintendent of the Hospicio, Dr Ira Almeida, said that despite all shortcomings, the staff and the administration are putting all possible efforts to alleviate the discomfort of the patients. “The strength of the hospital shrunk to 217 when the two floors of the annexe building were declared unsafe. We need a capacity of 300-350 beds. As the new district hospital will be a 500-bedded one, we are waiting to move into it. We are ready with our shifting plan,” Almeida said.