PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday disclosed that the government will go ahead with plans to start a private medical college at the new South Goa district hospital, Margao.
Sawant, while speaking on the sidelines of a live interaction on Prudent TV, reiterated that his government would strive to give effect to all the announcements made in the Budget.
The health sector got a major shot in the arm in the budget proposals with an 18 per cent hike in allocation. Among the key announcements were plans to set up two nursing colleges in the State, an ICU department and a medical college in South Goa.
The chief minister said the medical college would take shape as per the policy of Niti Aayog and the Centre and will be under the supervision of the State government. "There should not be any misconception about opening a private medical college, there will be necessary government control”, he added.
When questioned about the idea of a medical college in South Goa, he said the decision is taken to ensure that more students get exposure to medicine and also to provide better healthcare facilities at the South Goa district hospital.
It may be recalled that the government faced severe criticism on the floor of the House over the lack of facilities at the South Goa District Hospital with the Opposition labelling it as “a referral hospital”. Opposition MLAs pointed out how patients were being referred to GMC due to a lack of necessary services at SGDH.
The chief minister disclosed that associating a medical college with the district hospital will help in resolving most of the issues of providing services. “Currently opening up certain facilities at the South Hospital is challenging because of numerous factors, including the availability of doctors,” he added.
To another question that the logistics of setting up a nursing college are already being put up on the two floors at the district hospital, the CM said, it will not come in the way of the medical college and necessary adjustments will be made in due course.
UNEMPLOYMENT
When pointed out that Goa’s unemployment rate is high at 15.9 per cent, Sawant disclosed that his government is opening up jobs soon.
“Around 5000 government jobs will be up for grabs soon, and these jobs will be routed through the Staff Selection Commission”, he added.
COMUNIDADES
The chief minister tried to steer away from the controversy surrounding the recent amendments to the comunidade code saying the government’s intention is not to seize control.
When pointed out that the amendment to Article 70 seeks to appoint a government officer to preside over the affairs on suspension of the managing committee, he stated that there is a rider which stipulates his role till the completion of the inquiry.
Sawant sought to dispel the theory that the government was bulldozing its way through the comunidades saying that streamlining was necessitated because functioning of certain bodies was going out of control. “The government aims to ensure that the institution of comunidades remains intact”, he said.
