Replicate Morbi hospital’s overnight makeover in all government medical facilities, NCP tells Centre

The Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday took a swipe at the Centre by asking it to replicate Morbi Civil Hospital’s “overnight makeover plan” across all government medical facilities in the country, reported PTI.

The party’s spokesperson Clyde Crasto was referring to the quick revamp of the Morbi hospital just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Gujarat on Tuesday to meet persons who had been injured in the bridge collapse on October 30.

The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party had criticised the sudden renovations. The Congress had called the makeover shameful, saying that while so many have died in the accident, the BJP was busy with event management.

In a statement on Wednesday, Crasto said that Morbi authorities took Modi’s visit so seriously that they even replaced malfunctioning drinking water dispensers with new ones.

“This makeover will surely help the people who visit the hospital in future,” he said. “Therefore the questions that arise are, if the government of Gujarat and civic authorities can spruce up a hospital overnight, why can’t they do the same to all the hospitals across the state?”

He said that the authorities have shown that they can make hospitals neat, clean and modern anytime if they want.

“If the government of Gujarat does not do this across the state, it will prove that the victims of Morbi bridge collapse and the people of Gujarat are not of any importance to them and all this was done only to appease the prime minister,” he said. “If so, then it is truly a shameful and insensitive act on their part.”

Morbi bridge collapse

The colonial-era bridge on the Machchu river had snapped on Sunday evening, four days after it was reopened to the public following seven months of renovation. Officials said 141 persons died and 170 were rescued, many of whom have been admitted to hospitals with injuries.

The police have arrested two managers of Oreva Group, which was given the contract to manage the bridge, as well as two ticket clerks, two contractors and three security guards on charges including culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The bridge in Morbi municipality was given to the Oreva Group, the Gujarat-based electrical appliances and clockmaker, on contract for management for 15 years in March, local body chief Sandeepsinh Zala had said. The bridge was then shut down for renovation.

Zala has alleged that the bridge was reopened by the Oreva Group without getting a fitness certificate from the municipality.

The company, however, claimed that the bridge collapsed as too many persons in the mid-section of the bridge were trying to sway it from one way to the other.

The state too has shrugged off responsibility with former Deputy Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Patel saying that the government had no role in the renovation and reopening of the bridge. Patel added that the renovation was being handled by the Morbi administration.