South Goa district hospital deadline delayed yet again

PANAJI: Civil works for the South Goa district hospital, which has been under construction for the last few years, is likely to be completed by December-end. The hospital’s operation theatres are scheduled to be completed by the end of February.
A Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) official said that once the civil works are done, the hospital can start its outpatient department from the new premises.

“The operation theatres will be ready by February 2019,” he said, adding an initial change in contractors and subsequent design modifications delayed the project. “It was only after a petition was filed in the high court that the design was finalised,” he said.

Not only does the HC monitor the progress of the hospital to ensure its completion at the earliest, but a committee constituted by the government also oversees it. Earlier, the government had said the hospital would be completed in May, which deadline was shifted to end-October.

Health minister Vishwajit Rane and town and country planning minister Vijai Sardesai have been pursuing the progress made on the hospital project, more so after some structural incidents cropped up at Margao’s old Hospicio.

The construction of the hospital structure is not the end. The government will have to procure equipment as well hire additional manpower to make second biggest public sector hospital in the state functional.