Margao: Goa Forward Party (GFP) president Vijai Sardesai on Sunday said he will launch an agitation over inadequate facilities at South Goa District Hospital (SGDH), during a visit to the facility amid an acute bed shortage that has forced patients to be accommodated on stretchers and wheelchairs.Sardesai said govt has turned a blind eye to the plight of patients at the 500-bed hospital, which has been operating at full capacity for the past few days.“Govt is indifferent to the sufferings of the people due to the sorry state of affairs at SGDH,” he said. “GFP had moved the court demanding superspeciality facilities at SGDH, and govt had assured that such facilities would be provided, but nothing has happened since.”The Fatorda MLA also linked the hospital’s deteriorating condition to friction within govt. “As a consequence of the differences between the chief minister and health minister, the common man is suffering and being left to die in the hospital,” he said.“If govt fails to open the two top floors of the hospital and operationalise additional beds within a month, and provide all that was assured in the affidavit filed before the court, I will move contempt of court proceedings,” he said. “I will also call for a Salcete bandh over the issue, and we will make it an election issue.”The warning comes as hospital authorities scramble to ease the bed crunch.SGDH sources said the hospital had little choice but to keep treating patients despite the constraints, since referring them to GMC, Bambolim, would only choke that facility and result in patients being sent back. SGDH mainly treats patients requiring close observation and cases that cannot be handled at primary health centres. The hospital currently operates at around 80% occupancy.
