PANAJI: Goa Medical College (GMC) and hospital will shortly appoint two intensivists. At present, GMC does not have such specialists on board.
Intensivists provide critical care to patients, and their absence was felt during the ongoing Covid outbreak when GMC was flooded with critically-ill patients in August and September when the virus was at its peak.
GMC dean Dr S M Bandekar said two posts of intensivist have been created, and appointments for the same will happen shortly. Filling of these posts will be subject to scouting for eligible candidates who would most likely come from outside the state.
GMC, he said, doesn’t have the superspeciality which is a three-year course after doctor of medicine (MD).
Asked if the tertiary care hospital felt the burden of managing the increased number of critically-patients during Covid times, Bandekar said that pulmonologists and anaesthetists in GMC have been trained in critical care. They have been managing intensive care units with their assistance, he said.
GMC has 10 MD seats in anaesthesia.
Bandekar said the superspecialty ‘intensivist’ has been recently introduced, and hence, only a few hospitals have appointed such specialists.
“Not many hospitals have intensivists, and most government hospitals don’t have them on board,” he said.
A senior health official said that though GMC somehow managed to salvage the situation, hospital authorities felt the burden when the caseload of patients requiring critical care increased from August onwards.