After a long journey spanning over a decade, the South Goa District Hospital opened its doors to patients this week, and there was no minister of the Central or State government to cut the ribbon. For a project of this magnitude and prestige where local Salcete politicians have been elbowing each other for credit to get the project off the ground, later to get it expedited and then to get an inaugural date, this was almost akin to a champagne bottle opening without the pop and the fizz. But, it turns out to be a welcome precedent for the State.
It has been a soft opening of the South Goa District Hospital in more ways than one. Currently only the out patients department (OPD) is functioning from the new building, but there are plans to increase the number of services, and even a government announcemet that some wards would be shifted to the new premises in the coming week. It is not the first time that the government has made such announcements regarding this hospital. In August last year, the government had announced that the new district hospital would be opened in November 2019 and completely functional. Goa State Infrastrucutre Development Corporation was expected to hand over the hospital to Directorate of Health Services by September end and the DHS was to undertake the shifting of the services to the new premises. It didn’t happen that way and in December 2019 it was announced that due to some financial issues, it would be another four to five months before the hospital could be opened.
Five months later it did start. In the intervening period, there was even a proposal to convert the building into the COVID-19 hospital, but that plan too was quickly set aside, and finally, faced with no choice as the infrastructure of Hospicio in Margao crumbled – with even ceiling fans falling to the ground last year – the government in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown opened the OPD services in the new premises. That still makes this hospital one of most delayed of public health facilities in the State. The foundation stone for this hospital building was laid on December 30, 2008, when the Margao MLA Digambar Kamat was heading the government. It was another seven years before construction began on December 27, 2015. Four and a half years later, the hospital stands partly opened, with even the COVID-19 OPD functioning from this premises.
The hospital, however, is not completely ready for patients. There is infrastructure missing, both of the medical aparatus as well as of the other kind. For instance, there were plastic chairs placed for patients to sit on – spaced out to meet social distancing norms – and the benches and desks from where the medical staff was running their services showed signs of age, and were a sharp contrast to the new building and modern furniture. It is obvious that this is a hurried opening, but it shouldn’t remain so as it is not inconceivable that the government will quickly forget that it needs to equip the new hospital with proper and modern medical equipment and furniture.
Now, the focus has to be on getting the entire hospital working and shifting all the services from Hospicio to the new premises. The private medial college that the government had proposed at the new district hospital can wait. The priority is not a medical college, it is quality and modern health care for the people of Goa. A start has been made, now it has to be taken forward.
