FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Asmita Polji
PERNEM: The much-anticipated sub-district hospital at Tuem, Pernem taluka, is likely to be operational by December this year, with the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) assuring that all pending work will be completed within the next six months.
Expected to cater to the entire population of the Pernem taluka as well as border villages in Maharashtra, the 100-bedded hospital at Tuem is part of the renovated community health centre. Back in September 2021, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had inaugurated the dialysis facility on the ground floor of this building. The rest of the structure lay vacant and unused until the GSIDC took up work to convert it into a full-fledged sub-district hospital.
Presently, the people of the taluka are forced to travel all the way to the North Goa district hospital at Mapusa or the Goa Medical College and Hospital at Bambolim since the existing community health centre does not have all the required facilities.
“This project was ignored. As a result, we have had to suffer. People have had to travel to Mapusa or the GMC even when there was need for immediate medical attention. We want the project to be complete and made entirely operational," Anand Salgaonkar, a local said.
The ground-plus-one structure is spread over 11,546.8 square metres and costs an estimated Rs 52 crore. GSIDC officials said the original contract of the project has been closed and another contract has been awarded to a construction company to complete pending civil work worth around Rs 6 crore.
"The original contract has been closed, but civil, electrical, firefighting and HVSC work are pending. Tenders were floated and the contractor is in place. By November end all work will be completed and by December, the project will be operational,” GSIDC general manager Dilip Joshi said.
