PANJIM: Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, who is also the Health Minister, has blamed the Public Works Department for the water shortage at the Goa Medical College and Hospital.
Following a report in Herald on problems at the GMC, D’Souza said the issue has been discussed with the PWD officials umpteen number of times but has not been sorted.
“The major problem is a technical issue. The water requirement of GMC is very high and the tank gets empty faster. So the moment the tank is empty and you pump in more water air pockets are formed in the pipeline. Finding the air pocket in the pipeline and clearing it is very difficult. Sometimes it even takes days,” D’Souza said.
Nonetheless, D’Souza agreed, there is always short supply of water at GMC. “The PWD promised to supply water through tanks but that is not happening regularly,” the deputy CM said.
D’Souza said GMC is a 1600-bed hospital and there are wards, OTs and toilets where you require huge quantity of water. “GMC is a village in itself,” he said.
He added, “The tank at GMC also supplies water to the neighbouring villages so how would the water suffice? We have asked PWD to have another tank for the neighbouring villages so that GMC does not suffer.”
