Team Herald
The one-day seminar focused on strategies being adopted in disease monitoring and surveillance and how prepared the State was in case of a global epidemic.
Speaking at the event, North Goa Collector Nila Monhanan said, “Despite Goa being the best in the country with respect to healthcare, we can’t ignore the fact that we have a great deal of tourists coming into the State from other parts of the world, putting us at a higher risk.”
She highlighted the fact that since Goa didn’t have a laboratory of its own to test for infectious diseases, the State had to depend on labs in Pune, New Delhi and most recently Manipal. “We need to deliberate as to whether it is possible to set up a state-of-the-art facility in the State itself,” she said.
Focus was also raised on setting up a special facility to cater to patients in case of an outbreak. Dr Sunanda Amonkar, Medical Superintendent at the Goa Medical College (GMC) said that while GMC had not set up a special unit only for isolation, if needed it would spring into action.
“As such we don’t have a special quarantine area in the hospital. But in the latest outbreak of the H1N1 virus earlier this year, we did manage to cordon off a particular ward admitting only swine flu patients. This, however, is something that needs to be taken care of in the future as we have over a thousand patients coming and compromising their health isn’t an option,” she said.
She along with other doctors and people suggested setting up a separate facility with infrastructure and equipment needed to deal with a sudden outbreak.
With the threat of a disease like the recent Kysanur Forest Disease or the Middle East respiratory syndrome looming, doctors were also of the opinion of a set of rules and guidelines to be followed.
“Organisms are getting stronger and stronger with each strain. We must realise we are fighting deadly viruses here and so the need to handle it becomes even more important. Systems should be in place for which officials should know how to handle the situation,” said Dr Amit Dias, lecturer of preventive and social medicine at the GMC.
Suggestions and recommendations from the seminar will now be complied into a document to be presented to the DHS within seven days.
