“This is not a hypothetical concern. Goa has seen this pattern before. District hospitals in both North and South Goa were meant to decentralise healthcare and reduce pressure on GMC. Instead, due to shortages of specialists, diagnostic equipment and operation theatre facilities, they often end up referring patients back to Bambolim. For patients, this means lost time, added travel, and sometimes, lost lives.
Tuem Hospital risks walking the same path. A building alone does not make a hospital functional. What matters is whether it can handle emergencies, conduct surgeries, provide diagnostics and offer specialist consultations under one roof. “
After years of protests, petitions and political promises, the Goa government has finally announced that the long-delayed Tuem Hospital will be linked to Goa Medical College. For many in Pernem, this decision has been projected as a breakthrough. But it is worth asking, calmly and honestly, whether this linkage will translate into real healthcare or remain another well-packaged announcement that fails patients when they need help the most.
The idea of linking Tuem Hospital with GMC sounds reassuring on the surface. Specialists, doctors and nurses, it is said, will be made available through this arrangement. Monitoring committees have been promised. Political leaders have called it a major step forward. Yet the reality of Goa’s public healthcare system tells a very different story.
GMC itself is struggling. There is a visible shortage of doctors, nurses and support staff across departments. Anyone who has visited the new super-speciality block, barely 200 metres away from the main hospital, knows this well. Long waits, overburdened staff and stretched services are not exceptions but the norm. If the state’s flagship medical institution is unable to fully staff and manage its own facilities, the obvious question arises: where will the manpower for Tuem Hospital come from?
Without fresh recruitment and a clear staffing plan, linking Tuem to GMC risks becoming a mere administrative exercise. Doctors cannot be in two places at the same time. Specialists already struggling to manage patient loads at Bambolim cannot magically provide full-time services in Pernem as well. In such a scenario, Tuem Hospital is likely to function as a referral centre rather than a treatment centre, sending patients back to GMC for anything beyond basic care.
This is not a hypothetical concern. Goa has seen this pattern before. District hospitals in both North and South Goa were meant to decentralise healthcare and reduce pressure on GMC. Instead, due to shortages of specialists, diagnostic equipment and operation theatre facilities, they often end up referring patients back to Bambolim. For patients, this means lost time, added travel, and sometimes, lost lives.
Tuem Hospital risks walking the same path. A building alone does not make a hospital functional. What matters is whether it can handle emergencies, conduct surgeries, provide diagnostics and offer specialist consultations under one roof. As of now, there has been little clarity on whether Tuem will have fully equipped operation theatres, round-the-clock anaesthesia services, or essential diagnostic tools such as MRI and CT scan facilities. These are not luxuries. They are basic requirements for a hospital meant to serve an entire taluka.
Many residents have rightly questioned whether the public discourse was focused on the right demands. Instead of celebrating a linkage, the pressure should have been on ensuring that Tuem Hospital is independently capable. A hospital that cannot operate on emergencies or diagnose critical conditions will inevitably push patients elsewhere. In that case, the promised relief to Pernem will remain largely symbolic.
There is also the issue of accountability. The Tuem Hospital building stood unused for years, despite repeated assurances that it would be made operational. That history should encourage skepticism, not blind optimism. Without transparent timelines, publicly stated staffing numbers and clear service commitments, people are being asked to trust the same system that allowed a public asset to lie idle for nearly a decade.
Healthcare cannot run on announcements. It requires sustained investment in human resources, equipment and maintenance. It requires honest acknowledgment of shortages and concrete steps to address them. Most importantly, it requires placing patient needs above political optics.
If the government is serious about improving healthcare access in Pernem, it must go beyond paper linkages. Tuem Hospital should be staffed adequately, equipped comprehensively and empowered to function as a real hospital, not just a feeder to GMC. Otherwise, the people of Pernem will once again be told to wait, travel and adjust.
The question, then, is simple. Is Tuem Hospital meant to treat patients or merely redirect them? Until that is answered with action, not words, this “linkage” will remain a promise on paper, not a cure on the ground.
