Decides to take admission control of 21 private hospitals
Panaji: The Goa government on Saturday announced that it will take over the admission control of 21 private hospitals, which are providing COVID-19 treatment in the state, from May 17 onwards.
Addressing the media, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said despite repeated warnings, the 21 private hospitals had failed to comply with the government’s direction to dedicate 50 per cent of the beds for COVID patients.
“Hence, the government has decided to take over admission control of these 21 private hospitals for COVID management from Monday onwards. The government will issue a related order on Sunday,” he said.
Sawant further said these private hospitals will, however, be run by the hospital staff. “We are only taking control of admissions of the COVID patients in these private hospitals. The management will remain with the hospitals,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the state government will pay for the treatment at these hospitals and added that a government officer will be stationed at each of these private hospitals. The government officers will ensure that 50 per cent of the beds are reserved for COVID patients, Sawant said.
He said the government has also observed that many of these hospitals charge the patients exorbitant fees for COVID treatment and also deny them admission under the Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSSY), the state government’s cashless health insurance scheme.
The Chief Minister said a tank with a storage capacity of 20,000 kilo litres has been shifted from the Bicholim industrial estate and installed at the Goa Medical College and Hospital premises at Bambolim in order to store oxygen so as to do away with the dependency on oxygen cylinders. “This is the third oxygen tank that is commissioned in Goa. The two others being at South Goa District Hospital in Margao and at the super-speciality block of GMC,” he said.
The Chief Minister also said the government is making efforts to install another oxygen tank at the old block of GMC in the next few days. Sawant said 550 COVID patients are admitted in the South Goa District Hospital, while 350 are in the super-speciality block of GMC.
He said the positivity rate in the state has come down from 51 per cent to 35 per cent, which is a good sign. “With our constant efforts, we are hopeful that the positivity and mortality rates linked to COVID-19 will further decrease,” he said.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said the state government is providing medicine kit to all the people in the state. He claimed that Goa is the only state that provides free treatment to COVID patients. He also said
around 350 COVID patients have been shifted to the super-speciality block of GMC.
Responding to a question on deaths during the dark hours, dean of GMC Dr Shivanand Bandekar said it was not right to link all the deaths to the drop in oxygen level. He also said it is not right to identify these hours separately, as deaths due to COVID have been occurring throughout the day.
Secretary (Health) Ravi Dhawan said that after commissioning of the 20,000 kilo litre oxygen tank at GMC, the old trolley system will be used as a backup.