Thaindian News

Panaji, July 18 (IANS) Health estates, a new real estate project being aggressively promoted by the Goa government, has raised the hackles of Goa’s numerous civil society groups who allege that the government is trying to slip in SEZs through the back door by disguising them.
The health estates, which were notified through a government gazette, are meant to promote health services and facilitate medical tourism in the state. They will function under the newly formed Goa Health Services Development Corporation.

The notification dated June 26 defines health services as “any services by way of finance, premises, hospitals, health centres and any other services for betterment of health of the community and society at large”.

With the Congress-led coalition government’s earlier attempts to parcel out large tracts of land to real estate developers in the guise of mega housing projects, IT parks and fraudulently made allotments to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) developers successfully scuttled by sustained civil dissent since 2006, not many are willing to buy the concept of health estates.

“These are SEZs by another name. Those who devised these health estates are only interested in development of real estate,” Sabina Martins, co-convenor of the Goa Bachao Abhiyaan (GBA), told IANS.

GBA is an umbrella organisation of nearly 30 NGOs that has spearheaded and channelled public campaigns over the last three years.

“The notification allows land to be acquired for public purpose and then in the name of private-public partnership allows alteration of its use,” Martins said.

Arvind Bhatikar, an former bureaucrat and civic activist, said the health estates were nothing but another land scam waiting to happen in Goa, which has seen real estate prices reaching dizzying heights in the recent past.

Father Maverick Fernandes, secretary of the Roman Catholic Church-backed Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP), criticised the government for making yet another attempt to “grab” land.

“Instead of doing all this, the government should use the land judiciously and for the betterment of the people,” he said.

Interestingly, the Trained Nurses Association of Goa, which has also opposed the health estates project, has said that government run hospitals were critically short of essential facilities.

“Our hospitals in Goa are in shambles. First, the government should at least improve the present infrastructure. Goa’s best state-run health facility, the Goa Medical College, is in a mess. The government has got to get its priorities right,” said Nilima Rane, secretary of the Trained Nurses Association.

Indian Medical Association president Amol Tilve said that the implications of the Goa Health Services Development Act, which empowers the creation of health estates, needs to be examined thoroughly.

Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has, however, denied any ulterior motive as far as the health estates were concerned.

“There is nothing to hide. It is not going to be a five-star residential complex. It is going to be purely a place to provide health facilities or allied activities to benefit the people of Goa. I will do what my conscience permits and as advised by the health advisory council,” he said earlier this week.