New morgue to be operational by mid-October
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Asia’s oldest medical college ~ Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim, is all set for a revamp within the next five years, with State government working on a plan to this effect.
According to the plan the entire complex, spread over thousands of sq meters, could be brought under a compact design to tackle logistical issues.
In the very first step, the new state-of the art Rs 20 crore morgue with 200 cabins would be made operational from mid-October, replacing the existing 60-cabin one. The morgue will have an operation theatre, classrooms, museum, video conference and a small auditorium.
“The work was stuck due to delay in receiving the cabins, which would now arrive by first week of October,” Director GMC (adm) Swapnil Naik told Herald.
A three-stored building has been constructed next to the old morgue that will also house the forensic block. The total built-up area of all three floors is about 4,000 sq mtrs. The building will consist of the panchanama room, police control room, records room, magistrate’s room and isolation room for decomposed bodies.
“All the bodies from the old morgue would be shifted here. Micro-filming of the panchanama would be done,” Naik said.
The Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de (Nova) Goa or the Medical-Surgical School of Goa was established in 1842 during the Portuguese rule and housed in the heart of capital city and was shifted to Bambolim in 1991. Since then the hospital has expanded with several other medical facilities attached to it. Although the GMC shifted to this sprawling complex in 90s, the buildings were built in the late 80s and were used to house the Goa University from 1985 till 1991, but are now in a dilapidated state.
Naik said that the basic reason behind the revamp was the logistic hurdles faced by the staffers since the hospital and its facilities are spread over a large area.
“As per the new concept, we are planning to bring all the facilities under one roof by having high-rise buildings. The FAR for the medical institutions have also been increased by 20 percent,” he explained.
GSIDC has already taken up various works in the first phase estimated at a cost of Rs 40 crore, that include a new 200-cabin morgue, auditorium for students, lecture hall, girls hostel and renovation and upgradation of operation theatres, OPDs, etc.
