Replicate Morbi hospital 'makeover plan' in all govt hospitals in India: NCP

The Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday took a swipe at the Centre and said it must replicate the Morbi Civil Hospital's "overnight makeover plan" across all government hospitals in the country and call it the 'Gujarat Hospital Model'.

The comments came after the hospital in Gujarat's Morbi city was spruced up ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit there on Tuesday to meet those injured in the suspension bridge collapse which claimed 135 lives.

Workers were seen cleaning and painting a portion of the hospital ahead of the PM's visit.

NCP national spokesman Clyde Crasto in a statement said that a day before the PM's visit, there were visuals of the Morbi Civil Hospital getting a "complete makeover" and being made to look neat, clean and modern to welcome him.

Government authorities in Morbi took the PM's visit so seriously that they even replaced malfunctioning drinking water dispensers with new drinking water coolers, he claimed.

They worked so diligently that the hospital now looks as good as new, Crasto said.

"This makeover will surely help the people who visit the hospital in future. 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?" the NCP leader said.

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

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," Crasto said.

"They central government) must replicate the Morbi Civil Hospital overnight makeover plan across all government hospitals in the country and call it the 'Gujarat Hospital Model'," he suggested.