A 70 year old man from Savordem is fighting for his life as his lungs gasp for air in the Medicine ward of the Goa Medical College (GMC). After months of struggling for life at the local government hospital, then a private hospital and finally the GMC, his family though still tensed of his fragile condition say they have received a relatively good response from the staff and nurses in the hospital.
“We were upset and didn’t know where to go. The private hospitals were too expensive. When we brought my father here to the hospital, we had no idea how good or bad it would be. We were surprisingly very pleased with the service given to us by the doctors and nurses here,” said the daughter.
On an average over 175 people visit the hospital in a day but while the above case may say they have had a smooth visit to the hospital, there are several that would say otherwise. This is evident from the recent Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) case where a complaint was filed for making patients sleep on the floor of the Neurology ward. While the case may be limited to the Neurology ward, there have even been instances where mothers who had recently given birth were made to sit on chairs in the waiting area.
One eye witness said, “It was clear to see the amount of distress the mother was in, but she was made to sit for sometime before being given a bed to rest on.”
The space constraint is also very evident with family members and patients forced to sit on waiting chairs outside wards.
People loaded with their blankets and bed spreads lie sprawled on the floor outside the ward as they wait for their loved ones to recover. Some have even taken to dry their clothes on railings at the nearby veranda.
The nearby Yatri Niwas may seem like a better place to reside in but here too the stench holds visitors back. It was built to allow relatives of patients a place to reside while their loved ones recovered in the hospital.
One family member said, “There are piles and piles of garbage being dumped in the open space that generates a lot of stinky smell. Why would I stay there, and that too by paying money?”
The open space has clearly become the dumping ground for waste and garbage as stray dogs and cattle litter the area.
The garbage is also a problem for those that visit the place to have a meal or snack as it also houses a canteen. “It is extremely annoying to eat food with flies and a disgusting smell coming into the room,” said one trainee doctor as she exited from the building.
When it comes to the medicines and the government pharmacy, though they claim to be open 24 hours a day, many patients are sometimes forced to buy costly medicines from the nearby private pharmacy. Other problem areas include the blood bank, canteens and the crumbling infrastructure.
A new morgue but still loaded with problems
The old morgue at the GMC clearly shows the signs of being an old dilapidated building but with a new state of the art building and facility, little seems to have changed from the past.
Though the new morgue may be state of the art and fancy looking, it still lacked space as many students studying in the hospital have said they have themselves seen cases where cadavers were placed on top of each other. “We have good infrastructure in the morgue but it is not completely functional. There are several times where we have witnessed with our own eyes that dead bodies of people were being dumped on top of each other,” said the student.
Doctors working in the department have said that while they try their best to see the department functions smoothly, there usually always have hiccups. One doctor took the defensive on being asked why despite having the infrastructure, the new morgue was not fully functional. Another doctor pointed to unclaimed body being one reason the capacity is being tested.
“There are many bodies that are actually the property of the police as being part of unclaimed bodies they recovered as part of investigations and cases. Since we can’t simply incinerate bodies, we feel the pressure,” they said.
In the past there have also been cases of rats feeding on dead bodies. Officials claim that problem has been dealt with.
Short staffed blood banks
GMC’s blood bank may be the only licensed bank in the state to prepare blood component packs including blood platelets and are visibly struggling with their short staff. Today the department on an average supplies 75 bottles of blood a day but are functioning with two full time technicians nearing retirement and depending on contract technicians to allow for smooth flow of daily work.
“There is a blood bank in Hospicio but most times there isn’t enough to cater to all the patients. They are then asked to get it from the GMC therefore creating problems for the department. It is made worse with new hospitals that have specialist functions adding to the pressure,” said a doctor. The problem months are usually between April and June during which time, the youth that account for a major part of the donor category are engaged with exams and other activities. December to March are months where the most blood is collected through blood donation camps as well as individual ones.
