The statement by the Health Minister, Laxma Reddy, that the government never announced it would set up a super-speciality hospital and medical college in Nalgonda in the Telangana Assembly prompted Congress MLA Komati Reddy Venkat Reddy to pull out a bundle of newspaper cuttings to prove that he was wrong.
After reading out vernacular newspaper clippings, he read out an old report from The Hindu where the Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, himself had assured of setting up a medical college and super-speciality hospital at Narketpally.
Minister T. Harish Rao, however, objected to this and said reading out from newspapers was not allowed in the House. The Speaker did not allow Mr. Reddy to continue and switched off his mike. But he insisted that he should be allowed to make his point as the 276-km highway abutting Nalgonda towards Vijayawada was a highly accident-prone road and an emergency wing be set up in the district hospital.
Mr. Laxma Reddy said the Nalgonda Government Hospital was being upgraded from 250-bed hospital to 500 beds the construction of which would be completed in April. An ICU would also be set up in the hospital and work on a dialysis centre was in the final stages. The Nalgonda district hospital was developed at a cost of ₹27 crore and equipment worth ₹2 crore was acquired. There were also proposals to offer postgraduate diploma courses (DNB) and it would help in providing speciality courses in the hospital. A proposal to set up a medical college in Nalgonda district was under consideration, he said.
Four new govt. hospitals in Hyderabad
The Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, suggested that a city like Hyderabad with growing population should have four more government hospitals to cater to the needs of people living in far-off areas, said Health Minister Laxma Reddy. The government has tentatively decided to locate them near Victoria Memorial Home, Miyapur bus station, Petbasheerabad, and Mylardevpally. But the sites were not yet finalised, he said.
Each of the new hospitals would have 500 beds plus 250-bed mother and child care hospital. They would be designed perfectly and loan would be taken from nationalised banks for construction. There would be no issues with land acquisition as these new hospitals would come up in government land.
The Minister said the existing government hospitals – Osmania, Gandhi and NIMS – would be improved and ICUs would be set up in Area hospitals too.
