BJP: NO RIFT BETWEEN GOA CM SAWANT, RANE

The Goa state BJP, which went into a huddle after the state government failed to streamline the supply of oxygen, said the absence of a required system to maintain high pressure supply of oxygen to Covid patients led to unfortunate deaths in Goa Medical College hospital.

“For us, the issue of the reported tiff between Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane is over. It was not as reported by the media,” Sadanand Tanavade, president of Goa BJP told FPJ.

The work on installation of a new oxygen tank with capacity of 20,000 litres is almost over and many patients have been shifted to new super speciality units, he said, refuting reports of lack of coordination between the CM and the health minister. Meanwhile, CM Sawant could not be contacted as he was busy chairing meetings.

Sources close to the CM said though the Goa health care system was in good shape, it cannot handle the situations like the ongoing pandemic. The Goa medical college hospital is equipped with 540 beds and currently 940 patients are availing treatment. Lack of required number of staff to maintain the hospital is another important issue, the sources said.

Also, many staffers have quit due to fear of pandemic.

The positivity ratio of Goa is 35 to 40 per cent which was 51 per cent earlier. While around 300 recovered patients take discharge every day, around 200 new patients are admitted. Daily oxygen requirement was around 26 MT of which 20 MT was made available by the Centre.

Unforeseen delay in managing the affairs resulted in some deaths.