Patients suffer as Nizamia hospital's clinics shut early

Hyderabad: Patients visiting the Government Nizamia Tibbi College at Charminar are facing difficulties as a result of the outpatient facility being closed in the afternoon. This continues to be the case despite the higher authorities from the department of AYUSH asking the doctors to keep their clinics running in the afternoon for the benefit of the patients who come to the facility from distant places. The Nizamia Hospital is one of the oldest and largest Unani facilities in the state.  Every day about 600 patients visit the hospital seeking treatment for various ailments, but the outpatient facility is operational for only four hours from 9 am to 1 pm.

M.A. Sayeed, a resident of Panch Mohalla, said, “The outpatient facility is supposed to run between 2 pm and 4 pm, but only one attendant is present then and he asks patients to come back the next day.” AYUSH commissioner A. Rajendra Reddy recently asked the Government Ayurveda Hospital, Charminar, and the Government Nizamia Tibbi Hospital to ensure that their outpatient facilities extended to the afternoon.

“The officials are not taking the order seriously. People who come from far off are forced to go away without medication,” said an employee of the  hospital on condition of anonymity. When contacted, Zareena Parveen, the Superintendent of the Hospital, said, “As patients do not come in the afternoon, only two doctors are deployed to the outpatient facility.”