The Telangana government has on Wednesday ordered the sealing of the century old block of the Osmania General Hospital with immediate effect.
Last week, visuals of wards in the heritage structure inundated following rains and patients sitting haplessly on beds, while their attendants and health workers waded in knee deep waters has put the government in an embarrassing situation.
The building from the Hyderabad Nizam’s era is a historic site in Hyderabad, on the river Musi bank, with another imposing structure –the Telangana High Court – standing on the other side.
Earlier this week, OGH doctors and other staff staged a protest for the immediate initiation of the construction of a new building in place of the structure which they said was crumbling and is a disaster waiting to happen.
With last week’s flooding of the hospital, the opposition BJP, Congress etc., parties blamed the Chandrasekhar Rao government for the neglect the structure has suffered.
In Wednesday’s orders to the OGH superintendent, Telangana health department officials asked that the patients be shifted to other blocks and the old building be vacated.
“No activity should be undertaken in the old building,” the letter stated.
With the other major general hospital in the city – Gandhi Hospital – designated as a Covid-19 treatment centre, common ailment patients were being directed to the OGH.
Meanwhile, 1430 new cases were reported on Tuesday and the total Covid-19 cases in Telangana stood at 47,705 as of Tuesday evening, with 429 deaths.