PANAJI: Stating that the patients in Goa Medical College are exploited by private laboratory agents, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Saturday said that the government has decided to revamp blood testing facilities in the hospital within next 60 days.
He said private agents collect blood samples of patients and charge Rs 800-1,000 per test as GMC does not have proper blood testing facilities at its disposal.
“There are blood-sucking agents in the Goa Medical College who are exploiting the poor people and charging them high fees,” said Rane.
He said in the next 60 days the government will streamline the blood testing facilities in GMC.
“I am of the opinion that no blood sample should go out of GMC for testing. I will ensure that not only basic blood tests but even advanced tests are conducted at GMC. The state government will provide all required support to GMC administration,” he said.
Rane claimed that currently the equipment used for conducting important Elisa test is outdated and which sometimes gives incorrect test report putting the life of the patients at risk. Hence, he said the entire facilities will be transformed and a blood bank will be set up at the hospital which will function as a separate department.
He also claimed that all UDCs and LDCs have been reshuffled, who were in one department for 14 years as there were complaints received that they were taking bribe to give token numbers in the OPDs.
“I have given clear instructions that every six months all the clerical staff has to be reshuffled because there are serious complaints of asking for Rs 300-500 for issuing tokens in the OPDs,” he said.
“We will develop the blood bank in three phases by streamlining the full functioning of the laboratory set up. I have given instructions to the Dean in writing to seek NABL accreditation through which a system will come in place and it will enable us to create that type of infrastructure,” he added.
He said the required financial support to uplift the services of 108 ambulances has been approved by the government.
“By end of this month all the ambulances of 108 services will be GPS-enabled through which the location and the speed of the ambulance will be tracked in the head office of the 108. And also we will soon develop an application for public which will be linked to the ambulances,” he said.
He informed that state government under national rural health mission will send a proposal to procure ISTAT machines which test 29 parameters of blood by just taking two-three drops of blood.
“All our 108 ambulances’ advance life-saving equipment should have ISTAT machines; initially we will start with10 ambulances which will be wi-fi enabled and have printer facility,” he added.
He further informed that currently 40 ambulances of 108 are operating and 10 ambulances are almost ready with advanced equipment and apart from that six new ambulances have been approved under National Rural Health Mission by the government. He said the government will also allocate 20 bikes for the two-wheeler ambulance service.
He informed that GMC, Directorate of Health Services (DHS) and all primary health centres would soon be covered under hospital management system.
“Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has directed me to go for hospital management system not only for GMC but also for DHS and PHCs which will help us in putting accountability in place where every process will be online and it will be linked to Aadhaar card and Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana cards,” said Rane.