MARGAO: It would be six years in November this year since work on the South Goa district hospital at Margao got underway on November 4, 2008 during the Congress-led regime. Work on the project had been virtually progressing at a snail’s pace since then. And, while the present government now claims that 67 per cent of the construction work stands completed, the Health Minister has told the Goa Legislative Assembly in the just concluded Assembly session that no date can be given on the commissioning of the hospital at this stage.
While the five floor building was initially designed to be entirely utilised for the proposed hospital, the Parikar government has now approved the plan for a hospital on the first three floors and a proposed nursing college on the fourth and fifth floor.
While admitting that the stipulated date of completion as per the original tender was November4, 2011, the Health Minister now says the date of completion has been modified as it has been decided to convert the district hospital from 804 beds to 500-bedded hospital with a provision for intake of 100 nursing students.
Incidentally, sources in Hospicio informed that hospital doctors are not being consulted as far as the new district hospital is concerned. Senior doctors only hope the government takes the ground reality into consideration and makes provision for various basic amenities into account — spacious blood bank, laundry, mortuary et al before implementing the decision to earmark the top two floors for a nursing college. “The new hospital should have provision for a spacious casualty, ICUs, operation theatres, coronary unit, Laundry et al. There ought to be no compromise on the amenities,” remarked a doctor.
