George Pinto wrote:
Just a thought - with a view to bridging GMC with medical institutions
worldwide, would it be
feasible to have the Dean periodically be a Goan doctor based abroad take
the Dean's post for some
time. Other benefits - skills-sharing, resource-sharing, a link for Goan
doctors/nurses to opportunities abroad, etc. I envision Dr. Jose Colaco
(Bahamas) as such a candidate, there are other well qualified Goan doctors
throughout the globe.
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Dear George,
Interesting idea ...but .....anyway here are som random thoughts written at
one sitting .. so if there any typos...do excuse :
1. Collaboration with other centres & bilateral exchanges are always a good
idea, but the real benefit in admin-matters is unlikely to be significant.
2. re Technical matters, both GMC and the foreign institution will benefit
from collaboration.
3. GMC, despite the difficulties, produces some of the finest graduates from
India. Almost all the GMC graduates, I have heard about (and personally seen
working abroad) are positively brilliant. Hence, there is NO paucity of
talent within the GMC pool. The best place to look for it ...GOA.
4. To make GMC a success, the following criteria must be in situ:
a: The Head must be someone who has NOT greased his/her way up.
b: The Head must be someone who has HANDS-ON experience at GMC for atleast
the past 10 years.
c: The Head must be someone who has experience with Clinical Medicine.(There
have been Deans at GMC from non-clinical areas who could never have the
inside knowledge of the Hospital per se - EVEN though they may have once
been Interns at the hospital)
d: The Head must be someone who has a reasonable knowledge of Goa.
e: The Head must be someone who has a love for the institution; and not for
the JOB.
f: The Head must be someone who does not have to depend upon the JOB for a
living.
I believe that Dr. Jindal scores very highly in ALL of the above
5: However, some fundamental changes MUST occur for GMC to succeed. These
are NOT necessarily in the 'provence' of the Dean:
a: The politicians / civil servants esp the CM, Health Minister, the Health
Secretary and Chief Secretary MUST stop interfering with the Hospital. Their
job is ONLY to see that Health Care within reasonable expectations (as
mandated) is provided to the populace. Their responsibility is to provide
the necessary budget to pay for the expectation. They MUST do this in a
timely fashion.
b: All the required expertise to run GMC at a high level, can be found right
there in Goa. All n Sundry MUST understand that the vast majority of those
who study very hard to complete Medicine, will NEVER take kindly to be
subjugation by any politician. (please see annex 1)
c: If Goa wants high quality service to be provided by GMC doctors, Goa will
have to PAY for that high quality service. Goa will never get a high quality
service from GMC doctors IF the very doctors are not treated right. (This
goes with every other professional)
d: If Goa demeans professionals by making them mere civil servants, these
professionals will deliver like civil servants.
e: The best way to provide top level expertise to Goans, is to employ top
level professionals - albeit from the private sector. If the budget cannot
afford them, employ them part-time. Trust me.... IF a culture of trust is
engendered, it will only be a Win-Win situation.
I should know, I work in one such system where the top professionals are
retained in the system, by allowing them limited private practice.
f: Top professionals will ONLY give their best to an institution IF they
find it a pleasure to come to work at that institution. This is unlikely to
happen IF the institution is FILTHY.
The GMC hospital at Bambolim is FILTHY !! (please see annex 2). How much
more does it cost to keep the place clean ?
BUT, I suppose ... it helps the Private Hospitals IF GMC is filthy. ALL the
paying patients will go Private.
Hey! even if there was a private wing to GMC - that place will be known for
its filth.
Which is it: One goes to GMC because one is sick ... or does one get sick
AFTER going to GMC?
6: Last but not least : Goans have to get out of this Colonization of the
Mind which existed during Salazar's days ....and got a boost during the
Bandodkar and Parrikar days ...and I must say, exisits in many parts of the
world. Professionals appear afraid to speak out against what is fundamentaly
wrong with the system.
And there are Goans who will very quickly accuse the Critics (even
constructive critics) of being anti-Indian.
No wonder, so many professionals say "Amkam kityak"? and just keep quiet.
After a while, the filth and the ineptitude grows onto these professionals
.... and they actually believe that All is Besht!
Hey, they accepted the filth of the Goa restaurants ... as normal ... for
decades ! And yet ...one small step towards cleanliness changed it all. Pity
it took an epidemic to get to that step.
Do we need an epidemic to Clean up GMC?
Perhaps.
good wishes
jc
Appendix 1a: is the case of Dr. GK Salelkar, my gracious teacher of
Cardiology and Medicine. I shall always remember his simplicity of
symtoms-processing to come to a diagnosis. This learned but gracious
physician was hounded out of GMC by Bandodkar for refusing to meet the
totally unreasonable demands of a politician.
That case went to court, and the good doctor Salelkar won eventually, BUT
GMC lost a brilliant teacher, and the public patients of GMC lost a most
excellent diagnostician - and left with the 'Mukri' from Aurangabad.
And ... the culture of Zhalacch Pahije continued at GMC
Appendix 1b: is the case of Dr. Wilfred de Souza, my mentor and my teacher
of Surgery. This positively brilliant surgeon was supreseded by the Butcher
brought from Aurangabad specially by Bandodkar's hatchetman Vengsarkar. If
you ever see a total abdomen scar in ANY Goan, remember BfA (der butcher
from Aurangabad).
So, unfortunately, and against the advice of those who cared for Dr. Willie,
and still care for him ...he left GMC and went into politics ( A step NO
professional should ever consider doing)
Appendix 2: When I first joined clinical medicine, I had the opportunity to
do a rotation at the Ribandar Hospital. And while the Panjim GMC hospital
was beginning to be partitioned and messed around by the Delhiwallas who
were in charge of the funding of Goa, The Panjim hospital was still cleaner
that any of the hospitals I had visited in Bombay or Poona.
But Ribandar was positively brilliant! ( I understand that during the
Portuguese era, it was cleaner and nicer than a present day 5 star hotel -
BUT I don't know that first hand)
By the time I completed my MBBS, Ribandar was a mess
Appendix 2b: By the time I was an intern, stray dogs and cats from th
street were sharing accomodation with the children on the Pediatric Ward.
And my consultants would breeze through as though ....all was "besht"
Water from the toilets was running over and was ankle deep esp in the
Orthopedic area (where Ema worked)
The Residents hostel also had running water - from the toilets above -
through the ceiling - to the toilets below.
jc was the editor of the GMC wallpaper . After much complaining of having to
live and work in those conditions, jc published a couple of photographs on
the Wallpaper. That got the attention of the Dean (ID Bajaj) who started
making a few changes but was transferred somewhere else.... and the matter
returned to status quo.
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