Leader of the opposition and Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu has demanded upgradation of the 90-bed SVR Ruia Government Hospital here to a 300-bed hospital with better infrastructure and adequate staff.
Naidu, who visited the hospital on Monday to inquire into children's deaths, spoke to patients over the facilities and staff members.
A duty doctor complained that there was no proper facility even to wash their hands after attending to patients which increases the risk of infection.
A kin of a child patient said they were forced to get drinking water from Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences which is a half kilometre away and they did not bathe for two days for want of water.
A house surgeon complained that theft of laptops and valuables had become common and despite complaints to the superintendent, security guards were not appointed.
Speaking to reporters later, he criticised chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and medical education minister Kondru Murali Mohan for not visiting the hospital though five deaths had been taking place there everyday since August 15.
According the information collected from the hospital staff, he said 687 children had died at the hospital in the last eight months.
The former chief minister said delivers at home increased during the Congress rule in the absence of incentives to new mothers for hospital deliveries.
Most of the children admitted to the hospital were underweight due to government's failure to provide nutritious food to the pregnant women, he said and alleged interference by local Congress leaders in the hospital's administration and asked the local MP to immediately vacate the quarters which he occupied on the hospital premises