Locals give govt 15-day ultimatum to start 10-bed hospital at Ribandar

Panaji: Unhappy with the government’s plan to start a primary health centre (PHC) for Ribandar, residents have started an agitation demanding a full-fledged 10-bed hospital to be set up at the old Goa Institute of Management campus.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said that the state government is considering converting the Old Goa Medical College building at Ribandar into a PHC.
The government had earlier given its nod to start a day-care dispensary for Ribandar at the old GMC complex, which locals had protested saying that they require a full-fledged hospital.
Sawant was speaking to reporters after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary at Old Goa. He told reporters that the request for a health centre at Ribandar had come from Panaji MLA Atanasio Monserrate and Cumbharjua MLA Pandurang Madkaikar.
“The proposals had been delayed due to the pandemic. We have been considering converting the old GMC hospital at Ribandar into a primary health centre to cater to people from Ribandar, Old Goa and surrounding areas,” Sawant said.
Residents of Ribandar, Chimbel and Merces, led by local councillor Rupesh Halankar, who is also the convenor of Ribandar healthcare committee, gave the state government a 15-day ultimatum to approve a health centre with X-ray, sonography, CT scan, MRI, laboratory and other facilities. The meeting was attended by members of the Old Goa, Chimbel, Merces panchayats and locals.
A resolution passed at the public meeting reminded the government of the then chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s August 2017 assurance to residents of restoring within three months, full medical care services and facilities at the old Ribandar hospital. The resolution also drew the government’s attention to a similar promise made by Panaji MLA Monserrate in his May 2019 by-election manifesto of a 24x7 health care centre at Ribandar with a full-fledged casualty unit.
Halankar said that locals require a full-fledged hospital and not a day-care dispensary. “Besides catering to Ribandar, the medical centre would also benefit residents of Old Goa, Corlim, Divar, Chorao, Merces and Chimbel,” he said.