Any major programme or visit by a Minister to Osmania General Hospital (OGH) begets questions about the long-delayed construction of a new building for the tertiary care facility. So, when Health Minister Harish Rao visited OGH to inaugurate medical equipment on Tuesday, the question was expected.
Before media personnel could ask the question, Mr. Rao said that they would try to resolve a court case related to the building at the earliest. Standing a few feet away from the century old building, he said that the first choice of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to construct a super-speciality hospital was OGH.
“Heritage is a small hurdle. We will try to address it at the earliest,” he said after inaugurating a Cath Lab worth ₹7 crore and a CT Scanner worth ₹2.5 crore at the hospital on Tuesday.
Two more issues at the hospital that often come up for discussion are sanitation and condition of the mortuary. The Health Minister acknowledged that there were major sanitation issues at the hospital. Mr. Rao said that a new contractor would be hired by floating tenders since the services of the present contractor were not good.
Regarding the mortuary, he said that ₹5 crore was sanctioned for a latest mortuary. However, the assurance to modernise the mortuary was given by previous Health Ministers also, and healthcare workers who pinned their hopes had been disappointed over the years. Around 4,500-5,000 Post Mortem Examinations (PME) are conducted in a year at the OGH mortuary.
Union Health Ministry, a few months ago, had approved PMEs after sunset. Stating that mortuaries across the State would be modernised, Mr. Rao said that resources needed to conduct autopsies after sunset would be looked into.
Mr. Rao said that he would visit the hospital again on January 1. And doctors might have to present their targets, and show plans to improve services. Instructions to this effect were given to doctors.
