Allot new Secretariat to Osmania General Hospital: Doctors association to KCR

Hyderabad: The Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA) has written to Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao requesting to allocate the newly-constructed Secretariat building to Osmania General Hospital. They requested to allocate the new Secretariat building until the decision is taken on the fate of the old dilapidated building and the new building is constructed in the interest of Telangana patients.

According to the president of HRDA, Dr. K. Mahesh Kumar, “The department of health and family welfare is neglecting the Osmania General Hospital new building issue and is unable to take a final decision on the old building and constructing a new building. As a result, patients are being treated under temporary fabrication sheds, and all departments are clubbed in wards causing congestion and inconvenience to patients and staff of OGH.”

The members said the old OGH building could be allocated to the Secretariat temporarily as the expert committee reported that the old building can be used for administrative purposes.

Earlier, during the proceedings at the High Court, advocate general Banda Shivananda Prasad drew attention to the report of the Committee on Structural Stability of Osmania General Hospital Building (Inpatient Block). The committee made the following recommendations:

1. The condition of building is not safe for use in its present condition and cannot be used for hospital purposes at all.

2. However, the structure can be repaired and renovated so as to increase the life of the building and can be put to use after taking up repair works for non-hospital purposes.

3. As it is a listed heritage building, appropriate conservation repairs are to be taken up under the supervision of conservation architect.

4. After repairs and renovation, the building can be put to use for non-hospital (non-clinical purposes) only as the hospital requires many modifications to the building to accommodate various services like oxygen pipelines, gas lines, AC ducts, water lines, sewerage lines, etc., which will affect the heritage character and structural stability of the building.