CURCHOREM: The group of six Opposition councillors of Curchorem-Cacora Municipal Council (CCMC) offered to set up an oxygen producing plant in the premises of upgraded Curchorem Primary Health Centre.
Speaking to Herald, former chairperson Balkrishna (Pinty) Hodarkar said that it is very sad to see that COVID positive cases are unexpectedly exploding in the State and hospitals are running out of beds and medical oxygen to treat the patients.
“Our idea is to reduce the dependency of the hospitals on oxygen suppliers and make them self-reliant for medical oxygen so that they can give to the patients who are struggling to breathe as many patients are dying due to shortage of oxygen. The Curchorem PHC is centrally located and will cater the needs of COVID patients from Curchorem and nearby surrounding areas including Dabal and Panchwadi instead of putting pressure on Margao and GMC hospitals,” said Hodarkar.
According to Hodarkar, the six councilors namely Pradip Naik, Sushant Naik, Clementina Fernandes, Mangaldas Ghadi and Aparna Prabhu Dessai including Hodarkar himself decided to voluntarily contribute from their pockets and install the oxygen generation plant.
“The newly constructed hospital building has sufficient space to make COVID wards inside and if the health authorities agrees we are ready to contribute the total amount and install the plant including all the required internal equipment like pipeline near the beds for continuous uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen to the patients,” said Hodarkar, when asked what is the use of such a big hospital building if it is not use at the hour of need.
When contacted, Health Officer Dr Mohanrao Dessai said that the new building is not yet handed over to them and presently there is no pipeline installed in the building to supply the oxygen.
Curchorem unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) too demanded to start COVID treatment wards on priority basis at upgraded Curchorem Primary Health Centre and Quepem Primary Health Centre.
