SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
Dr Ira Almeida, who was in charge of the COVID hospital since it was set up, has been replaced by Dr Uday Kakodkar. The overhaul did not stop there; there are sweeping changes that have been made, all inone stroke. One of the aims of making the changes is that Goa Medical College should get a complete grip on the COVID hospital and on the treatment and management of the pandemic. That GMC is now occupying the driver’s seat is clearly visible by the composition of the various committees that have been formed to handle the pandemic in the State.
This is how it will work: the overall administration and working management of the COVID Hospital will be monitored by the Dean of GMC, while GMC HoD of the Department of PSM Dr Jagdish Kakodkar will be the dedicated administrator looking after the day-to-day administration of the COVID Hospital, daily media bulletin and accommodation of staff. A committee comprising of the GMC Dean and others has been constituted for manpower deployment such as doctors, nurses and paramedics. A senior consultant from the GMC medical team will be the nodal officer for the treatment protocols in the COVID Hospital, dashboard and liaising with the Collectors and Deputy Collectors. The Treatment Protocol Committee which will have GMC doctors besides others, including private practitioners to decide on the protocols for treatment. A 50-bedded high dependency unit to be created within the COVID Hospital with bedside ventilators will be under the supervision of other GMC doctors, and for the smooth functioning of the operation theatre in the COVID Hospital, a committee has been constituted under GMC surgery professor Dr Francis Noronha. COVID positive patients admitted with co-morbidities will be treated by super speciality teams from GMC on call. There have been complaints of the kind of treatment and food at the hospital, and even here the service providers from the GMC have been roped in.
With GMC totally involved in the COVID pandemic treatment and management, the onus now is on the staff of this tertiary hospital to deliver. What kind of change can Goa expect with these across the board adjustments that have been made to the handling of the pandemic? For starters, what Governor Satya Pal Malik had suggested to the government that co-morbidiites must also be treated at the COVID hospital will happen. You won’t need to have COVID-19 patients with co-morbidities being shifted to GMC, but specialists from Bambolim will travel to Navelim to treat the patients. These are small measures that make a difference, but they will make that difference only when these new teams begin to deliver.
What is now required is for the medical professionals from the GMC to bring about an improvement in the conditions of the hospital and the covid care centres and in treatment of the patients, and it has to be done quickly. That is the least that is expected from them. The number of COVID cases in Goa has been increasing daily, with another record spike on August 5, and there have been now up to four deaths on a day. The management of the pandemic demands concerted efforts, which one now expects from the new teams that have been put in place by the Health Minister. Can they make the difference that Goa so badly needs in its battle with COVID? It is only the days ahead that will answer this question, but those days are numbered as cases rise.
