The South Goa District Hospital (SGDH) is facing mounting pressure on its bed capacity and basic facilities, with all beds occupied during a recent patient rush, forcing some patients to be accommodated on chairs, wheelchairs, stretchers and even the floor. Health Minister Vishwajit Rane admitted that the hospital was operating at full capacity.
Goa Forward Party (GFP) president and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, who inspected the hospital, described the situation as “extremely serious” and gave the government one month to open two unused floors, operationalise the beds and provide the specialised facilities promised for the district hospital.
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Sardesai said patients were being kept on stretchers and referred to private hospitals or Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) when their conditions became complicated. He questioned why additional space was not being made available.
He said the government had earlier promised to develop SGDH with multi-speciality facilities and that he had approached the High Court because these were not being provided. Though the government had given assurances during the proceedings, he said, “today we are back to square one”.
Sardesai warned that if the government failed to act within a month, the GFP would initiate contempt of court proceedings and hold the Chief Minister and Health Minister accountable before the court.
BJP Goa president Damu Naik, meanwhile, accused the Opposition of trying to “play to the gallery”, saying making statements before the media was easy. Naik said patients themselves contacted ministers and BJP leaders, including him, seeking admission at SGDH instead of private hospitals, indicating that people wanted and were using the government hospital and that the crowd was also a result of this demand.
Questioning what work the MLA had undertaken on the issue, Naik said the government and ministers were working on it and that implementation took time. Asked who was accountable for the hospital’s upkeep and why the two floors remained unused despite the additional space they could provide for patients, beds and equipment, he said the government was seized of the matter.
Rane said he had directed the hospital administration to explore available space for additional patient-care facilities. Asked about opening the fourth floor, he said he would examine the matter with the hospital administration.
Rane said the government was committed to strengthening healthcare facilities at SGDH, noting that work on the Cathlab was underway and an MRI facility had been set up.
The fourth floor has emerged as a possible solution to the bed shortage. The nursing college is currently housed there, and the administration has suggested shifting it elsewhere to convert the space into additional beds. A preliminary proposal is to shift the college to the old Hospicio premises in Margao, which would free the entire fourth floor for patient care.
The nursing college began functioning from the fourth floor last year as a temporary arrangement pending identification of a permanent location. The old Hospicio premises currently house the paediatric palliative care unit, while part of the heritage structure is dilapidated.
SGDH Medical Superintendent Dr Rajendra Borkar attributed the surge in patient inflow to the seasonal transition. He said respiratory and gastrointestinal cases increase during the monsoon, while viral, respiratory and gastrointestinal cases are now rising together. SGDH largely receives patients requiring close observation, including those referred from primary health centres, and operates at around 80 per cent occupancy at any given time.
With limited options to shift patients, the administration is arranging reclining chairs for those who cannot be accommodated on beds. Borkar described this as a stop-gap measure, saying sending patients to GMC could result in their being sent back to SGDH, while sending them home was not always an option.
Sardesai also raised concerns over the non-functioning Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), which he said was causing a foul sewage odour. He pointed out that SGDH had only six dialysis slots despite serving patients from across South Goa, saying a district hospital could not be reduced to a referral centre where patients were sent elsewhere whenever treatment became complicated.
Sanitation facilities are also under pressure, with around 30 to 40 per cent of the hospital’s toilets, urinals and washrooms affected by repair and maintenance problems. The shortage of functional facilities was particularly acute in high-footfall areas such as the casualty department and medicine wards.
The administration has sought PWD intervention for major repairs, while around Rs 5 lakh was received for sanitation upkeep and maintenance. Minor repairs were to be handled through the housekeeping agency, with PWD expected to undertake larger works. Rane also said he would discuss the sanitation issues with Borkar.
Sardesai called on the Margao MLA and other elected representatives to take a clear stand, warning that if the government continued to ignore healthcare needs, the Opposition would consider taking the issue to the streets.
AAP Goa vice-president Roque Mascarenhas also questioned SGDH’s condition, saying patients were being treated on wheelchairs, stretchers and even the floor. AAP Goa Youth Wing vice-president Neash Steve Coutinho said infrastructure alone was insufficient and hospitals also needed adequate beds, doctors, staff, equipment and other resources. AAP State Organisation Secretary Prashant Naik raised the issue of sewage leakage, saying it had been brought to the authorities’ attention several times.
