Milestones and memories a hospital’s journey

The growth of Goa Medical College (GMC) during last few years has been stupendous. Now, it is on the path to achieve new heights with plans afoot to set up a super-speciality block and a regional cancer centre on its premises within the next two years.
Also, on the cards are other infrastructure facilities that will change the face of public healthcare in the state.
A senior hospital official said that the GMC will be one of the few government-run hospitals in the country to have a super specialities setup.“This is no mean achievement,” he said, adding that recently a foundation stone was laid for building additional lecture halls.
Established in 1842 as the Escola Medico Cirurgica da Goa during the Portuguese rule, its administration came under Bombay University with the liberation of Goa in 1961. It was renamed Goa Medical College in 1963 and operated from Ribandar and Panaji until it shifted operations to Bambolim in 1991.
The Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour at Bambolim, the TB and Chest Disease Hospital at St Inez, the Rural Health and Training Centre at Mandur, and the Urban Health Centre at St Cruz form part of the establishment.
From the 1990s, GMC started growing steadily and though, at times, its functioning was marred by glitches, during the last few years the government has tried to overcome some of the problems. However, there is scope for a lot more improvement.
One of the chief problems is that it continues to receive patients from across the state despite being a tertiary hospital, and the two districts having their own full-fledged government hospitals.
The premier governmentrun college and hospital also attracts a fair number of patients from neighbouring districts of Karnataka and Maharashtra, who account for 25-30% of the total patient load at the hospital.
Despite these odds, GMC achieved quite a few milestones in the last decade. The first feather in its cap came in October 2011 with the starting of the kidney transplant facility. Till date, it is the only hospital in Goa to have this facility. While one or two private hospitals have shown interest in setting up a similar facility, they are yet to start procedures.
The GMC has successfully conducted 17 kidney transplants so far.
Further, the hospital won plaudits when it set up a cardiology and cardiothoracic department five years ago. The initiative was looked upon with suspicion initially, but within a short span of time the department earned the reputation of being one of the best facilities in the state in the field. Its success led to a privately-run facility in South Goa shutting down.
“What worked for the government is its out-of-thebox idea of hiring cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons by offering them special packages,” he said. While its other departments and super specialities are also doing well, the cardiology and cardiothoracic department has set new parameters for a government hospital, he said.
On the research front, the GMC’s efforts have also received a boost and, over the years, it has come to rank 47 among other medical colleges in the country.
The standards of the hospital’s newly-added facilities, like its three lecture halls, auditorium and examination halls, matches the best in the private sector.
Another feather was the commissioning of the rural health centre at Mandur, last month, which was under construction for over a year.
On the flip side, the college building, which also houses the dean’s office and administrative section, is in shambles, and the government has announced that a new one will be built.
Health minister Vishwajit Rane has announced that he wants the super-speciality block setup as early as possible. It will be ready by the end of the year for commissioning. All existing super specialities from GMC will be moved into the new block once commissioned. The hospital also plans to add new specialities.
The government is also pursuing the regional cancer centre project, besides the plan to expand the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour (IPHB), which has already been translated into action with the foundation for a 100-bed facility being laid last month.
Rane has also announced a plan to build a child and mother block. This block will be located in the vicinity of the super-speciality block. “Few hospitals in the country have such a amenity. If GMC succeeds in realising its plan, it will be the first in the state to have one,” a senior GMC official said. Having a mother and child block is advantageous in case of high-risk pregnancies and in providing complete healthcare to newborns and nursing mothers.
However, the minister’s plan to put up a new canteen facility is yet to fructify. Meanwhile, students, patients, and visitors to the hospital suffer as the hospital’s two canteens were shut down a few months ago.
Most accept that while GMC’s services have improved in leaps and bounds, having some of the best doctors in the state, it can still do better.