Century-old OGH block locked for the first time

Patients, offices shifted out of rickety in-patient block

A closed chapter?: Main door of the 102-year-old Osmania General Hospital’s in-patient block shut on Monday. Rain and sewage water had flooded the block on July 15.

For the first time in 102 years, a lock was put on the main door of Osmania General Hospital’s in-patient (IP) block on Monday. One of the iconic structures of Hyderabad, it was built in 1917 by the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan. Patients and offices in the IP block have been shifted to other blocks of the State-run hospital.

Orders to vacate the building were issued after rain and sewage water flooded the IP block on July 15.

Apart from General Medicine and Intermediate Care, operation theatres functioned at the IP block which is in dire need of repairs. Offices of the hospital superintendent and heads of some departments too are located there. The entire campus is spread over 26 acres with some vacant land parcels.

“All patients and offices are shifted from the IP block,” said in-charge superintendent of OGH, R. Pandu Naik. Doctors from the hospital said that this is the first time the old block has been locked. Furniture and medical equipment are yet to be shifted from there.

Following orders to vacate the block, speculations were rife that it will be demolished to make way for a new building. Sources said that it is locked to avoid tresspassing or misuse of the huge, vacant IP block. However, doctors from the hospital have been demanding that the IP block to torn down to construct a new one.

While patients are shifted to avoid inconvenience or threat to lives, there are issues concerning patients which are yet to be addressed such as the dysfunctional X-Ray machines.

Only one out of three X-Ray machines in the out-patient block is functional. In a day, around 200 patients need the diagnosis. Besides, owing to the rush, sanitation measures are not taken up after a COVID suspect with symptoms is diagnosed using the lone machine. If the machines are repaired, crowding can be avoided to an extent.

Nurses protest

Around 60 nurses appointed on outsourcing basis boycotted duty at OGH demanding two months’ salary and insurance provision.

They said that they were employed towards the end of April for a monthly salary of ₹25,000.

“However, we did not get salaries from May. Besides, appointment letters and ID cards were not issued to us. We want the pending salaries to be paid. Insurance policy should be offered to us as we work in COVID quarantine wards too. We are at risk,” said an outsourced nurse.

The Telangana Nursing Samithi has extended support to the protest.