Managing patient flow
The North Goa District Hospital in Mapusa urgently needs improved seating arrangements in its OPDs to manage patient flow and reduce overcrowding. Departments such as ENT, Eye, and Dental face heavy inflow, yet patients often wait standing for long periods. The ENT OPD requires seating near consultation rooms, especially for patients undergoing minor procedures like syringing, suction, or nasal packing. The Eye OPD needs a larger waiting area with adequate seating for patients awaiting diagnostic screenings (cataract, retina, glaucoma). Comfortable seating is essential at the Dental OPD, as patients frequently queue for long durations without chairs. Priority seating should also be provided for the elderly, disabled, and pregnant women. While the hospital is clean, well-maintained, and well-equipped, the lack of sufficient seating undermines patient experience. It is unclear whether a supervisory committee exists to oversee such facilities, but immediate attention to seating arrangements is necessary to improve crowd management and reduce waiting-time discomfort.
Rajesh Banaulikar, Arpora
Motorable lane, finally!
For years, a lane near the Caranzalem garden leading up to Fern Residency hotel was in a pathetic state. This busy lane connects Caranzalem to Taleigao and to Dona Paula and Bambolim. Before the Covid pandemic, pavers were laid but due to frequent diggings and plying of heavy vehicles, the lane got messed up. Now and then, a few potholes were filled with rubbles and coated with cement. In no time the cement eroded. This lane was neglected for years because it partly falls in the jurisdiction of both the Taleigao panchayat and the Corporation of the City of Panaji. Letters by this writer requested the Monserrate family, residing a 1-km away, to repair the lane and gift it to the public within the first week of 2025. But the civil works (road laying, electrical cables shifted underground) started in the last week of December 2025, exactly after a year! Since the last week the cemented lane looks like a runway and has become motorable. Thanks to the Monserrate family, the PWD Minister and the Chief Minister for completing the task before the monsoon.
Sridhar D Iyer, Caranzalem
Save Goa’s coast
This is with reference to the news report ‘Study sounds alarm over state’s eroding shoreline’ (NT, February 20, 2026). The report rightly raises the red flag over this issue. This is indeed the reality in other coastal cities as well. In Mumbai, for instance, the coastal road project seems to have disturbed the seabed, affecting the fishing industry. And now, 45,000 mangroves are slated to be cut off to make way for the coastal road in the suburbs. At the end of the day, we are destroying nature and as I keep saying, when nature hits back, man will not be able to stand its fury. It’s time people wake up to reality, at least now. Save Goa, save the country, save the world!
Melville X D’Souza, Mumbai
Selective outrage
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has rightly criticised state governments for offering unchecked freebies, questioning whether such measures amount to election-time appeasement at the cost of the public exchequer. His remarks appear to have been prompted by the Tamil Nadu government’s recent transfer of Rs 5,000 to 1.31 crore women heads of households. While the concern is valid, one cannot ignore that similar practices have occurred before. For instance, ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a direct transfer of Rs 10,000 to over a crore women voters, despite the model code of conduct being in force. Unlike Tamil Nadu’s scheme, this was not part of an ongoing programme, raising questions of fairness and consistency. Had the Supreme Court acted firmly at that time, other states might not have followed suit. To prevent recurrence, the apex court should now establish clear legal restrictions prohibiting such cash transfers or freebies at least one to two months before any election.
Tharcius S Fernando, Chennai
Mother tongue blues
It is believed that there are about seven thousand spoken languages in the world, though ambiguities abound on the number of ‘living’ and ‘dead’ languages. Preservation, promotion and protection of languages are part of national heritage. Sadly, only sixty per cent of the world’s population can have educational access in their spoken language. About forty per cent of languages face extinction. Learning in a language spoken at home is a definite way of imbibing intricacies and injecting knowledge. Mother tongue or mother language becomes a key factor that determines linguistic diversity and, thereby, the linguistic and cultural richness of the society. Cultural tradition, cognitive development and peer connection receive a fillip when mother tongue is the language of primary education. No language is inferior to the rest, and different languages should act as instruments of mutual tolerance and respect. Indigenous languages have to stay firmly rooted braving the looming danger of fading away.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
