TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: The general public, patients and medical staff at Hospicio, Margao were greatly inconvenienced due to a massive power outage at around 4 pm on Sunday.
However, power was restored on Sunday night following the intervention of Navelim MLA Avertano Furtado.
Patients were in utter despair when the seemingly temporary power outage stretched for two hours as there seemed no solution to the problem till late Sunday evening.
The hospital was in darkness after sunset and it was shocking to see South Goa’s premier government hospital lacked basic infrastructure, given that the lives of the patients recuperating from various health problems were at stake.
“I got many calls from patients and doctors that there was no power at Hospicio Hospital and that it was in darkness. Then I called up the authorities concerned,” said Avertano who was the first to reach the site.
The only minister from Salcete made frantic calls to the Electricity Department, technical staff of Hospicio, Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation and the Deputy Chief Minister Francisco D’Souza and called for immediate power restoration.
“Finally we saw that we got the generator running again, which had some technical issue including diesel shortage and we managed to provide temporary relief. While the engineers of the electricity department are looking into the matter, the GSIDC engineers are also on their way and hopefully there won’t be any further problems,” said Avertano at around 9.30 pm.
“I will take the matter up with the Health Minister and the government and I have asked them to personally come and check the facilities at Hospicio. There is urgent need of repair work and these problems have been recurring for a long time now,” added Avertano.
Avertano further stated that the government also needs to ensure that facilities are not damaged by the constant power outage and carry out necessary maintenance at the earliest.
Hospital staff complained that handling the patients in such dire circumstances was never easy as they were forced to bear the brunt of the blame even though they were helpless and repeated reminders to the government to address the infrastructure-related problems had fallen on deaf ears.
Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai criticized the government for reacting late and said he had received calls about power outage as early as 11 am. He further stated that condition of the patients had worsened throughout the day and condemned the government for the negligence.
