U-turn on medical facilities
It is very unfortunate and highly deplorable that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has made a U-turn and now directed that the Old Ribandar Hospital premises be given to the Ayush Ministry.
In October last year he had assured us that medical facilities would be restored there with the setting up of a Health Centre. On the same day Health Minister Vishwajit Rane along with Panjim MLA Babush Monserrate visited the premises and announced that a 30-bedded Health centre would commence jointly run by the Directorate of Health Services and the Goa Medical College while it would be gradually expanded to be a full-fledged Hospital.
Our proposed Health Centre file was approved by the Health Minister six months ago but was stalled by the Chief Minister due to opposition from Union Ayush Minister Shripad Naik who wants his Ayush Centre there. It is an irony that Shripad Naik despite being a resident of Ribandar has been against the Health Centre.
During the CCP elections in March this year Babush Monserrate had solemnly promised us that the Health Centre at the Old Ribandar Hospital would be a reality before this monsoon. He and his three Ribandar CCP Councillors are now accountable to that promise made.
Restoring Health care facilities at the Old Ribandar hospital would ease the burden on GMC at Bambolim which has reached a saturation point. This Medical care facilities would be of immense service for the people of Ribandar and neighbouring Chimbel, Merces, Old Goa and the residents in the Island of Divar.
The Government would be well advised not to pursue any needless Ayush project there but to have a Health centre as earlier proposed.
Aires Rodrigues,
Ribandar
Raise remunerations of medical workers
In the last one-and-half month the Directorate of Health Services (DHS), Goa has been unsuccessful in its drive to recruit MBBS doctors for government hospitals and public health centres. A few days back during its second attempt, 4 candidates turned up while there was a vacancy for 50 posts! This is better than the first call when no one showed up!
Now the DHS proposes to appoint Ayush doctors. There could be several reasons for the newly graduated doctors failing to attend the interview, such as migration to other States or abroad, taking up further studies in specialised fields, joining private hospitals, private practice, etc. But one main reason could be the poor remunerations which is Rs.65k for MBBS (in government) and Rs.40-45k for Ayush doctors and Rs.60-65k (in private). Newly graduated nurses are paid Rs15-20k (private) and Rs30k (contractual with government). It is surprising that the staff in private hospitals are paid so low when the management is busy raking in the moolah from the patients.
In other States too, the remunerations may be similar. Medical workers perform their duties under high stress conditions and for long hours and since the pandemic began last year their schedules and personal and family lives have gone for a toss. They are at the highest risk to be affected by any ailments and sometimes unfortunately are also attacked by the patients’ family. Last year we admired their selfless services by lighting lamps, clapping hands and singing their praises. They deserved all that and more but what they need is a respectful pay packet and easier work hours. The governments and corporate hospitals need to immediately enhance the remunerations of the medical workers and without any excuses.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
Of totalitarian States and unfree speech
The Centre is hell-bent on muzzling free speech and silencing dissent on social media platforms, the only agenda it is actively pursuing is the propagation of its own ideology which for the most part is bigoted.
The recent raid on Twitter’s offices in the NCR are standard intimidating tactics employed by the government to arm twist free speech entities into amplifying the Centre’s propaganda; the social media giant had recently labelled a tweet about a patently false ‘toolkit’ by the party spokesperson as ‘manipulated media’ which got the government’s goat, this is a reprehensible act to coerce purveyors of free speech into toeing the sarkar’s line.
Ironically the most frequent users of the SM platforms are the ruling party’s minions/ministers.
The Centre has also via surreptitious amendments to the IT Act 2000 taken away the ‘intermediary’ status of social media giants which means that every user post on their platform would be deemed to have been ‘published’ by the companies themselves, making them criminally liable for any content considered unlawful by the government which gets to play judge, jury and executioner.
These rules give the totalitarian regime, unfettered and unquestionable power over digital news, streaming platforms and social media which would have disastrous consequences for online privacy, freedom of speech and expression.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Monetary help for Covid-19 deaths
The government should provide ex-gratia monetary compensation to the deceased family members of Covid-19 patients, as provided under Sec 12 of the Disaster Management Act 2005. The medical officers are not conducting post-mortem of the persons who are dying due to Covid-19. It is the right of the family members or relatives to know the real cause of death to avail compensation. Certificate should be issued to the deceased family members to establish that the death is due to Covid-19. But for Covid-19 deaths, bodies are being taken from the mortuary to the cremation ground directly without mentioning the actual reason in death certificates. As many families lost their members, despite all the efforts. Words of sympathy aren’t enough, as they’ve suffered irreparable losses.
Now that Covid has hit lower middle class to lower-income group families in the country, it is necessary for everyone to remember at once whether they have paid an annual premium of Rs 330 or not. If recently anyone died in the family of your close relative or acquaintance, whether it is due to any illness or Covid-19, ask them to check the bank account details of the deceased. If the bank has deducted Rs 12 or Rs 330 between April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 in their passbook entry, then underline it. And ask the relatives of the deceased to go to the bank and submit a claim for an insurance amount of up to Rs 2 lakh, to be claimed within 90 days. In the year 2015, the Government of India had provided two affordable insurance schemes for savings account holders of most of the banks: First, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) for Rs 330 and second, Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) for Rs 12.
KG Vilop, Chorao
Be prepared for Cyclone Yaas
Soon after monster Cyclone, Tauktae left a trail of death and destruction in its wake; the authorities have their hands full in preventing Cyclone Yaas from doing similar damage. According to GK Das, Deputy Director and Head of RMC, the very severe cyclonic storm is likely to make landfall on May 26 at noon between the Paradip Coast in Odisha and Sagar Island in West Bengal.
The concerned stakeholders must spare no effort to evacuate people to cyclone shelters and safe areas to minimise loss of lives.
NJ Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
