The recent visit of Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana, T Rajaiah, who also holds the crucial health portfolio, to Gandhi Hospital and his assurance to improve infrastructure has fuelled a lot of expectations among health care providers in State-run teaching hospitals. They are now hoping that the Health Minister will give impetus to vital health projects that have been pending for years.
The glaring instance of Gandhi Medical College (GMC) and Nizamabad Government Medical College losing MCI recognition for 50 and 100 medical seats respectively (2014-15) is a reminder that there are inherent infrastructure and manpower deficiencies in Telangana teaching hospitals.
Ironically, despite failing infrastructure at Osmania General Hospital (OGH), Osmania Medical College has managed to get MCI renewal for its 50 medical seats. “Gandhi Hospital does not have a building to provide hostel accommodation to its MBBS and post-graduate medical students while Nizamabad Hospital has both faculty and infrastructure crunch. That’s the reason for losing MCI recognition. There are similar frailties everywhere in Telangana,” doctors said.
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The old in-patient building at OGH needs to be vacated and shifted to a new building, for which administrative sanction of Rs. 200 crore was given in November, 2010. Since then, however, the project got mired in controversies and is yet to take off. A new building at OGH is vital to improve the quality of medical services to cater to the ever increasing patient inflow from districts.
There is a dire need for a new general hospital for public from areas like Kukatpally, Hi-tech City and beyond. At present, tertiary care options for poor patients from say Miyapur or Patancheru, are Gandhi Hospital and OGH. Recognising this imbalance, previous governments had come up with a proposal to start a Rs. 180 crore general hospital with 750 beds in the sprawling 62-acre Erragadda Chest Hospital campus. The project has failed to take off.
While Gandhi Hospital and medical college are blessed with enough space at Musheerabad campus, the proposal to start a nursing college and build new hostels for PG and UG students in the campus are pending for long. Both OGH and Gandhi Hospital do not have sewerage treatment plants (STPs), which are very important treating hospital bio-medical waste.
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There are several similar key pending projects at Niloufer Hospital, Fever Hospital at Nallakunta, Petlaburj Maternity Hospital, Erragadda Mental Hospital, Chest Hospital and Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS). “Only time will tell whether these pending projects will ever see the light of the day,” is the refrain among health care workers.