How many more months will it take for Health Minister, Laxmikant Parsekar to commission the Balli Primary Health Centre up-gradation project – a project initiated during the previous Congress regime?
The “Parivartan” ushered in by the 2012 Assembly polls has not brought about a positive change in the medical facilities at this near three-and-half decade-old primary health centre during the last two years and half. Forget about the medical amenities, even the ground-plus one storey building has been awaiting inauguration for a long time now. That’s not all. The delay in the inauguration of the upgraded building had echoed in almost every session of the Goa Legislative Assembly since the last two years and half, with the health minister only handing out promises for its early commissioning.
While the delay continues on one pretext or other, it’s not uncommon to find patients sharing beds with bed shortage in the existing dilapidated building being the order of the day. The up-gradation project had envisaged augmentation of the bed strength from 15 to 25 to take care of the increased number of patients availing medical facilities at this Health Centre mostly hailing from the rural countryside.
Exactly a year ago, Herald had highlighted the inordinate delay by the Health Ministry to shift the health centre to the new building. Cuncolim MLA Rajan Naik had then told Herald that the PHC building is ready and complete and the new premises will soon get the new beds, asserting that the health minister has promised him to commission the PHC at the earliest.
A year down the line, the Cuncolim MLA now says the building could not be commissioned for want of a lift in the premises. “Since the wards and rooms are on the building’s first floor, an elevator is a must. We have completed the electrical work and work is on to put a lift in place”, Rajan said. And, the Cuncolim MLA said the Health Minister has now promised to commission the upgraded PHC at the earliest.
Quepem MLA Chandrakant Kavalekar, however, expressed his dissatisfaction over the delay in commissioning the project. “Nearly 85-90 per cent of the building work was complete at the time of going to the Assembly Polls in 2012. I fail to understand the inordinate delay in inaugurating the project. It appears the government is hell bent in postponing the inauguration because it was initiated by me and the Congress”, Kavalekar said.
While making a plea to the ruling dispensation not to play politics on the health of the people, the Quepem MLA said he is weighing various options including convening a meeting of the citizens to chalk out the future course of action.
“Every time I raised the issue in the Assembly, the health minister has assured to complete and commission the building at the earliest”, Kavalekar said.
Independent Velim MLA, Benjamin D’Silva, who is part of the ruling dispensation, said the health minister has promised to complete all work on the project and commission the same at the earliest. He, however, does not have any indication when exactly the upgraded project will finally see light of the day.
The Balli Primary Health Centre – the foundation stone for which was laid by former Prime Minister, Moraga Desai – caters to the medical needs of the people from the CMC and the villages of Velim, Ambelim, Balli, Morpilla, Fatorpa, Betul and Barcem.
