Team Herald
MARGAO: Even after five years of its completion, the multi-crore Quepem hospital is yet to be thrown open for the public.
With no one being treated, the hospital has become a white elephant; the beds are rusting; and the equipment costing lakhs of rupees have remained idle for years now. The people of Quepem have pleaded with the government to open the hospital at least after the election results.
The Quepem constituency has a large jurisdiction and if one compares the Primary Health Centres to the area it is too small for the size of Quepem. The facility neither has special facilities nor enough doctors resulting in many cases being sent to the Curchorem Health Centre or Hospicio Margao. To address the problems, the Quepem hospital was built in 2012 at a cost of crores of rupees to the exchequer. People believed that the hospital would be inaugurated at least during the BJP rule. This did not happen.
There is a widespread perception that the hospital has not been inaugurated for political reasons. However, the former Health Minister Francis D’Souza has been on record claiming that there was a deficiency of doctors and allied staff for the starting of this hospital.
This hospital building is in dire conditions now. The scrap material from the health centre has been stored in the new building. The beds are rusting, the doors have been broken by unknown persons and the entire building has become a dungeon. No one is ready to speak on this issue, but reliable sources say that the equipments at the hospital have been stolen.
The hospital building however is being used as a dental check up facility, a Homeopathic treatment centre and a Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSSY) registration office now.
The former minister Prakash Shankar Velip said, “The Quepem MLA has not been able to give a proper hospital for the Quepemkaars for the last 15 years and it is a shameful thing. Now, we feel that we will have to start an agitation for the Hospital.
