Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has said that the entry of private agents into Goa Medical College and Hospital for collection of blood samples of patients is not a scam as alleged by the NCP, but an “irregularity”.
“It’s not a scam. It was an irregularity which is being corrected now. The irregularity is not new. It was also happening during the Congress-NCP government regime. It has been happening for the last 8-10 years,” Mr. Parrikar said in Panaji on Tuesday evening.
Goa NCP spokesman Trojano D’Mello had demanded the resignation of state Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar when media reports revealed that private laboratory agents were personally collecting blood samples of patients by entering the wards at the hospital.
According to the reports, the patients were made to cough up whopping fee for these blood tests, which otherwise should have been made available in the state-run facility free of cost. NCP had called it a scam.
However, reacting to the allegations, Mr. Parrikar alleged that the NCP was a “blood sucking” party.
The Chief Minister said that there are a few tests which cannot be done in the hospital and hence needs to be referred to private laboratory.
However, Mr. Parrikar said that no private laboratory agent should have been allowed entry into the hospital for collecting blood samples. “I agree that private laboratory agents should not be allowed to enter the ward and collect blood of the patients. GMCH nurses should be doing that and giving sample to the laboratory representative,” Mr. Parrikar said.
