MARCOS GONSALVES
marcos@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: The government may have announced big plans for the new South Goa District Hospital at Fatorda, but in reality, the infrastructure pertaining to the services and facilities at the centre is deteriorating with each passing day, say patients. Presently, patients and their relatives, and even doctors are being inconvenienced due to the non-functioning of several elevators in the hospital building.
Out of the six main elevators, three have been out of commission for the past several months, resulting in major hardships for the patients, especially for the dialysis patients and their relatives. Even doctors are seen standing in queues, waiting to take the elevators that are in working condition, as they are too few for a large number of people who visit the hospital on a daily basis.
When contacted, Dr Deepa Corria Afonso, Medical Superintendent at the hospital admitted that few elevators are not in working condition, but remarked that visitors to the hospital, excluding the patients, should use the ramps and stairs, and should focus on walking for good health, rather than using the elevators all the time.
“We have already been informed about the elevators not working, and all the correspondence with the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) on this matter has also been done. We have been informed that all the official documentation between the concerned authorities has been done and we are now waiting for the sanction order from the accounts department, to repair the elevators,” she said. Pushing for able-bodied people to use the ramps as exercise, Dr Afonso said, “ Now, I have decided to paste a notice in every elevator inside the hospital stressing that people should walk for health reasons.
She claimed that the administration is taking care of all the patients visiting the hospital so that they do not face hardships due to the elevators being out-of-order.
Several citizens from Salcete had informed the Herald of the non-functioning of the main elevators. It is pertinent to note that several MLAs of Salcete, including Venzy Viegas, Vijai Sardesai and Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, had expressed their concern about the degrading facilities at the South Goa District hospital during the monsoon session of the State Assembly, and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane had assured the House that he would resolve all the issues at the earliest.
Michael Fernandes, a resident of Carmona who visits the hospital regularly with a dialysis patient, told Herald that three lifts; numbers four, five and seven in the main wing have not been working for the last few months. “It is shocking to witness the patients and even doctors forced to wait in a queue due to defunct elevators. Forget about the relatives of the patients, even the serious patients and those requiring dialysis have to wait for their turn to get into the elevator,” said Fernandes.
“Despite this hospital being touted as a centre that provides modern health care, the ICU for dialysis patients is yet to be commissioned. One dialysis patient even died due to suffocation on July 4, because of the inadequate facilities here,” alleged Fernandes.
He urged the health minister to look into the matter at the earliest, and make life easier for people visiting the hospital.