Team Herald
MARGAO: The painful ordeal of patients and their families have come to fore once gain due to the non-availability of timely ambulance services at the South Goa District Hospital (SGDH) or Hospicio in Margao.
In one such instance, a young man with a fractured leg waited for three hours for transport to reach GMC, Bambolim. He was referred by a doctor at SGDH. With no driver available for the hospital’s ambulance, a 108-emergency vehicle eventually transferred him. A video of his father recounting the ordeal has since gone viral.
The day prior, a pregnant woman in labour, arriving at Margao railway station, faced a similar predicament when no ambulance was available. She ultimately reached the hospital with the assistance of a good samaritan who arranged a taxi, highlighting recurring gaps in the hospital’s emergency response capacity.
Prabhav Naik from a local youth group condemned the government’s “insensitive approach” and called for better operational resources at the hospital. He pointed out that Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, after receiving a memorandum, had pledged to allocate two ambulances to Hospicio. Despite this promise and the launch of 21 ambulances in Panaji, Naik noted that not a single new vehicle had reached the district hospital.
Recently, Goa Forward Party (GFP) President Vijai Sardesai had also voiced concern, stating that while the hospital staff are dedicated, the system is failing patients. “I feel the hospital is still in a coma,” he remarked. GFP had filed a petition before the High Court regarding SGDH’s non-optimum functioning.