Dears, I can very well understand the grief felt by Ms Mhambre at the loss of her mother. I can also accept that different individuals handle stress differently.
However, the fact remains that Ms. Mhambre assaulted and committed battery on the young doctor. She should have to face the consequences of her illegal act. The next thing we might hear from some looney bin is that it is OK to bomb police stations and slap police officers because (in general) the police are rude, inefficient and corrupt. I fail to understand (my fault) the statement "I feel sorry for the doctor who took the brunt, but somebody had to be slapped at the GMC". Just imagine if a hardworking and otherwise law-abiding "Bhaillo" was upset by the way some Goans were treating "Bhaille" in general, and just decided to slap "eddie" or "jose" who happened to be walking on the road. I absolutely disagree with Jane wrt 'Govtmt hospitals are meant for the poor and those who cannot afford private hospitals'. That approach, IMHO, is the best way to destroy a Govt Hospital. Besides, health care at hospitals is provided/subsidised by the taxes paid by the citizens/residents of a place. These tax-payers have a right to healthcare at those hospitals. What they do not have, are preferential rights which are also (and corruptly) afforded to Politicians and other VIPs. If everyone was afforded the same rights, privileges and service, there would actually be an improvement of service for all. The Goa Medical College started off with two very clean hospitals providing very polite service. This was inherited from the Escola Medica tradition. I saw it personally a few years after the transition took place. The Goa Medical College (according to my understanding) provided better 'medical' service than the Escola which provided better 'surgical' service. The training of the Escola graduates was more geared to surgery - probably because of their enhanced study of Anatomy. It is during the Bamdodkar years esp when Karmali was Health Minister and Duarte Monteiro was replaced that the mess started. The Goa Govt has a long history of interference with GMC. The real breaking point came with the appointment of Vengsarkar as the Dean. Much time was spent in politics eg Maharashtrian professors v South Indian professors etc. I will not comment on the "accountability or lack of it" wrt the origins of the Bambolim project. Goan professionals, patients and Goa took a back seat. Anna Marie Goswami please take note. These non-Goan Health Secretaries, Deans, HoDs, Professors et al who had NO clue of Goan culture and obviously NO interest in Goans and Goa (except personal) took charge of Goa, bossed the Goans and set about the rot which has taken over the Goa hospitals. With ALL the crores allegedly invested in GMC and other hospitals, the state of the hospitals and the service provided is absolutely abysmal. The places are filthy, the sheets are unclean and the staff is rude. Some of the so called professors and other senior staff are full of themselves.(I believe that Edward has alluded to this) I can tell you that from personal experience.Over the past several years, I have been to GMC and to Hospicio (Margao) on a number of occasions, incognito i.e. with chappals, very simple clothes and speaking English really badly - like many guys in Goa normally do. The reception I got at the hospitals, and what I saw ... was positively awful. I invite other netters to go incognito to "test out" the service. I could not believe that the GMC I trained in and which had (at the time) 2 hospitals akin to a 4 star hotel ...had become this DUMP with newer equipment. The bright side is that GMC produces excellent graduates ...at least the ones I have personally helped to recruit to hospitals on this side of the globe. The dark side is that Goans in Goa have been 'liberated' of their decent hospitals, and have had them replaced by a set of dumps. No wonder one of the frustrated broke the law and slapped a happless junior doctor. I could understand and would even applaud if Ms Mhambre had slapped the Minister or Secretary of Health (whoever that is) or even Dean Jindal (for presiding over this attrocious dump without overtly discernable protest). I will not condone the slapping of a simple little junior doctor. But then, we seem to only take out our frustrations on the weak. just my view jc == edward desilva <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The daughter could have been schizophrenic, or she might have pleaded several times to the doctors to give her mother better treatment, which fell on deaf ears I feel sorry for the doctor who took the brunt, but somebody had to be slapped at the GMC Now, the doctors at GMC think that they are the LAW? This is precisely the reason why Sonia should have slapped a few more doctors not just one. Some doctors (no matter where) think they are Gods. jane gillian rodrigues <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I am always shocked and surprised when I hear of finacially rich or so-called upper class people going for "free treatment" to government hospitals. These rich people demand that these over-worked and over-burdened doctors, lowly paid doctors, pay attention to their own rich, patient only. Have any of you seen or heard, or watched the behaviour of rich people speak to government doctors in govtmt hospitals? Govtmt hospitals are meant for the poor and those who cannot afford private hospitals.
