Docs at Hospicio told to wait after shift

TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Hospicio geared itself to face any eventuality as an unprecedented disaster struck Canacona around Saturday noon.
Be they doctors, nurses, staff or attendants, everyone at the hospital joined hands to receive and attend to patients shifted from the Canacona medical centre to Hospicio.
Hospicio Medical superintendent Dr Siona Gomes received the first call about the disaster at around 3.30 pm and soon an SOS was sent to doctors, matrons and the attendants to stand guard to attend to patients shifted to the hospital.
By the time, the hospital received 13 patients, the doctors, nurses and the attendants were all geared up to receive them and give them immediate medical attention. Hospicio casualty witnessed a frenzy of activity as doctors and nurses attended to patients brought inside by male and female attendants. Given that some of the patients required orthopaedic care and treatment, attendants led them to the X-ray unit.
Dr Siona Gomes said: “We were all geared up for the job at hand after I received the message about the tragedy. We told the doctors and the attendants not to leave the hospital after their normal shift, but to stay put to attend to the emergency. Everyone cooperated and rose to the occasion to lend a hand”.
The hospital authorities even put up a makeshift ward in the vacant room adjoining the chamber of the Hospicio Superintendent. Around six mattresses were put up to meet any emergency situation, even as Dr Gomes maintained that they ensured that the hospital had adequate stock of life-saving drugs, including IV fluids.
However, Hospicio received only 13 patients, who were promptly attended by the hospital, of which three serious patients were referred to the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim. The hospital received a lone dead patient.