GHMC Warns Osmania Hospital About Poor State Of Building

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) today issued a notice to the Osmania General Hospital management, warning that the hospital's building was in a state of danger. Asking the management to be on alert, the GHMC officials have made it clear that they would not be responsible in case of any untoward incident. Already, the town planning department has issued notices indicating the danger posed by the 100-year-old heritage structure, whereas the engineering department is yet to issue a notice, after inspecting the building earlier this week.

In the last couple of months, five separate incidents occurred in the building, wherein chunks of cement concrete fell on patients from the roof, injuring several persons who were already being treated in the hospital. In this juncture, the hospital authorities are worried over the building's situation, while the government seems to be interested in advancing the Assembly elections. If the current Legislative Assembly is dissolved, there would be no chance for the hospital authorities to find an alternative solution or begin the construction of a new building. With a view to chalk out a solution to the issue, the hospital's superintendent has called for an emergency meeting on Saturday, with all the Heads of Departments.

After the engineering experts have made it clear that the building was not safe for operation, in 2009, the then Chief Minister of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, late Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy planned to build a seven-storeyed building across four acres of land in the hospital premises. He had even sanctioned Rs 5 crores towards initiating the proposed building's construction. However, after Dr YSR's death, the newly elected Chief Minister K Rosaiah, in 2010, announced that the government was allotting Rs 200 crore for the new building's construction. Later, Chief Minister Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy arranged for a pylon and sanctioned Rs 50 crore towards the construction, but, following the Archaeology department's objection to the proposed new building, the building's plan has been curtailed down to five floors.

After assuming charge as Telangana's first Chief Minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) visited the Osmania General Hospital, saw the state of the old building and announced that the government would construct two new state-of-the-art buildings in the heritage site's place. Following the order, archaeologists and Opposition parties raised serious objections to the idea of bringing down the building. Yet, not a single foundation stone has been laid for the new building till now.

Recently, the Joint Action Committee of the medical staff have ended a 100-day protest in demand for the new building. Reacting to the protest, Minister for Health, Lakshma Reddy announced that the new building's construction would be initiated within a month. Even after three months from making the promise, there was no change in the scenario.

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