Osmania Hospital staff presses for new building

HYDERABAD: Members of a joint action committee, comprising doctors, staff, students and nurses of the Osmania General Hospital on Wednesday held a demonstration on the hospital premises to press for their demand for the construction of a new hospital building.

They said that the government has been turning a blind eye to their demand, which has been pending for eight years.

Dr Pandu Naik, chairman of the JAC, told Deccan Chronicle: “Our concern is that the government has given assurance for the construction of the new building many times since 2015 but nothing has materialised. Despite the court ordering the government to take a decision on the construction of the new building in the available land, the government has not taken a decision. We are demanding that the government sanction a budget and lay the foundation stone for the new building.”

Doctors said that they had to work in poor conditions for long hours, despite providing excellent medical services through state-of-the-art facilities, as per the stature of the government hospital.

Nursing students shared their plight, complaining of poor residential conditions of no water supply, drainage issues and heavy leakage from the roof.

“We don’t know when the roof will collapse as there have been instances of some concrete structures of the roof falling, especially in the rainy season,” a nursing student said.

The JAC said that the new building must comprise residential quarters, audio-visual rooms, conference rooms, recreational facilities and a canteen.

The members said that they would wait for the government to submit its affidavit to the High Court next week, following which they will decide on the future course of action.

In December 2022, the High Court directed the Telangana government to submit a fresh comprehensive proposal by conducting wide-ranging consultation on restructuring and construction of new buildings to house the Osmania General Hospital at its Afzalgunj premises.

A division bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice C.V. Bhaskar Reddy had made it clear to the Advocate General B.S. Prasad to submit the proposal by February 7, but the government continued to remain indifferent on the issue.

Only after the JAC started raising its voice, as well as Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan’s recent visit to the hospital, has that the government seemed to have budged on the issue and decided to submit an affidavit to the court in the next week.