The apex health institution in the state, Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) is in dire condition. A class IV employee sums up the situation at GMC perfectly by saying, “There is no water in GMC, except in the eyes of relatives and friends bringing patients here.”
The employee who has been working with GMC for over a decade has been a witness to the ever growing list of problems the premier institution faces. In many ways, he’s a GMC encyclopedia. “It isn’t only me. Ask anyone here. They will share with you many tales of apathy. The situation continues to worsen year on year and we see no solution to it. Be it the BJP or the Congress, no one seems to bother about GMC,” he said.
It all seemed fine and well on the water availability front up to 2013 when then Health Minister Vishwajit Rane constructed his much touted ‘Yatri Niwas’ project. “Initially the water shortage was a discreet affair but it soon began a regular occurrence. From 2013 onwards, the process of worsening hastened and now it has reached a saturation point,” he asserted.
GMC is a major concern for many Goans. Herald camped in its premises for two days to study problems prevailing in the institution. What we found was heart wrenching and this goes completely against the claims of good governance by the ruling party.
Goa’s oldest medical college, established during the Portuguese era (1842) has gone through major changes over time. The old GMC complex was shifted to the current one at Bambolim and was expected to work for the betterment of patients. However, results have been adverse.
While superficial changes are evident at the complex, basic amenities are a terrible failure.
There are in excess of 2000 class IV workers working in three shifts at GMC. There are a total of 28 different sections and wards at present in the hospital and over 1000 patients visit the facility daily.
The lack of water however, is the biggest disappointment and is making operations across wards a difficult affair. Several representations to the bosses by staff has fetched neither a response nor results.
“It is inhuman on the part of the GMC authority to neglect such a huge issue. Water is a necessity and all wards should have supply for 24 hours. Unfortunately, for 19 hours of the day, the taps run dry,” said Advocate Satish Sonak, who has followed the GMC matter with the Goa Human Rights Commission.
The workers union completely blames the authorities for the negligence towards very sensitive issues. “Sometimes there is water for an hour or hour and a half in the morning and an hour in the evening. It is very messy. We keep tubs to be filled just so that we can provide the patients with drinking water. We pity the patients and how they suffer,” an employee said.
The toilets in all the wards and waiting areas give off an awful stench. It becomes very very difficult to make use of these toilets in the case of an emergency as well. Additionally, there is no water to wash hands for the workers and staff after work or after attending to patients.
Availing of drinking water is a tough task. Filters are not working in most places and some of the filters are uninstalled in various places.
“We have been purchasing water from outside even to wash our faces and brush our teeth in the morning. It’s a pathetic situation. The day will come when a patient will suffer from some disease which will spread due to the unhygienic condition of the hospital,” said Suresh Gaonkar, a relative of a patient admitted at GMC for the last seven days.
Medical Superintendent of GMC, Dr Sunanda Amonkar, while speaking with Herald said they are making efforts to rectify the situation in GMC and according to her, there is no such major issue of water supply affecting the hospital.
“We are getting a regular supply of water from the PWD and whenever there is a shortage, we get water from tankers which is supplied to us by the GSIDC. Presently, we get water from 14 tankers on a daily basis,” Dr Amonkar opined.
She mentioned that sometimes the shortage of water is due to the PWD supply and at other times due to the GMC’s own plumbing issue.
The workers and staff also complain that plumbing material has often been robbed from the GMC and due to that, a lot of leakages occur. However, interestingly no complaints have been made against anyone.
Pradeep Naik, dean of GMC, who sits just about 100 metres away from the hospital in the same complex is not aware about the seriousness of the water shortage. “I will ask my medical superintendent to brief me about what is happening. I don’t keep day to day records,” Naik replied when asked about the issue. He further added that they get their water from the PWD and that complaints are addressed in a timely manner.
Naresh Salgaonkar, resident of St Cruz has asserted that there is a lot of construction work happening in Bambolim and a huge quantity of water is being supplied to cater to the needs of the starred hotels in the area and that is why the GMC is suffering.
As per Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization manual, the PWD should supply 588 cubic meter of water to GMC (450 liters per day) considering there are about 1200 beds in the hospital. For the college section, 22.5 cubic meters (45 litre per person) considering the number of students and 25 cubic meters for Yatri Nivas.
Several times, the Goa HRC has dismissed the suo moto petition of water shortage at GMC based on the written reply that the PWD is supplying a sufficient quantity of water. The HRC has also been informed that they are doing their duty diligently and have been making every effort to supply a sufficient quantity of water.
