Goemkarponn desk
BAMBOLIM: Even as the people struggle to get the registration (OPD paper) and a bed at the Goa Medical College Hospital, the Health Minister Vishwajit Rane seems to be busy with the ODPs (Outline Development Plans).
A visit to the Goa’s premier hospital in Bambolim reveals people struggling to reach the registration counter in the morning.
To get registration papers, people in the queue often fight amongst themselves, even as the influential people get their registration done through the backdoor.
Their woes do not end there. To get the number at the respective OPDs, the people must be in line as early as 4 am to 5 am.
“I have been waiting here since 4 am, and still, my number is 13. I do not know how? Some agents give OPD token numbers by taking money, which I cannot afford,” said a female patient who did not want to be named.
Another person says that the security personnel too use their influence to give tokens to their relatives and known persons.
“We waiting for hours since morning is a waste as somebody else comes and takes the token before us,” she said.
After waiting for hours, when they are given admission papers, their struggle for bed starts.
Once admitted, especially in medicine wards, the first thing the nurse and doctors say is “NO BED AVAILABLE”.
Sometimes the patient’s treatment starts on a wheelchair and sometimes on a stretcher.
The scene was startling as the patients were put on drips and medication on stretchers and wheelchairs.
A patient’s relative, Kamala Chari, said, “My husband has been here for the last two days on a stretcher. The nurses and doctors say they will arrange for bed, but nothing is done.”
She said they have to stay since GMC is the best hospital for poor people like us.
“Even though COVID19 cases have subsided, still GMC does not have beds. There is no provision made to increase the wards either,” said another patient’s relative.
While, on the one hand, the State has spent crores on the treatment of ministers and MLAs in the super-speciality hospitality hospitals in India and abroad (including the United States), the local Goans are left to fend for themselves.
Another Goan, Ratna Naik, said she was told by the doctors if she did not want her relative to be on a stretcher, she was free to take him home or to another hospital.
“My husband has a liver issue, and we can’t afford treatment outside, and hence we have to stay,” she said.
While the GMC cannot be blamed for the situation, as the doctors are doing their best to give treatment with whatever resources they have, the government or the Health Minister, especially, who needs to think about providing better facilities for citizens in the Goa Medical College rather than concentrating on more lucrative ODPs.
