HYDERABAD: The efforts of a few alumni of Gandhi Medical College to salvage a 100-year-old iron staircase from being dismantled bore fruit as the structure has been transported from Gandhi Hospital old building near Secunderabad to the alumni association building near Musheerabad crossroads. Gandhi Hospital was earlier known as King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital. The staircase, which has metallic railing with intricate floral design, was installed in 1917. A manually-operated lift supported by four pillars was part of it. The KEM Hospital was renamed Gandhi Hospital in 1958.
“In 2005, when Dr Ranganath Reddy and I went to the old Gandhi Hospital premises to make arrangements to shift the staircase, it started to rain heavily and we were stuck there for five hours. Some looters barged in to dismantle it. They were set to attack us but we called police who reached the spot,” recalled Gandhi Medical College (GMC) alumnus Dr K Lingaiah and advisor of Gandhi Alumni Association. Many specialists were engaged to fix the staircase as some parts of floral design were broken.
Dr D Raja Reddy, a GMC alumnus of 1957 batch and former director of Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, said “As we used to go up and down the hospital hundred times a day, we used the manually-operated lift. Now, only the pillars are left”. Gandhi Hospital and Gandhi Medical College was shifted from its location near Secunderabad railway station to the Musheerabad campus in 2004. The alumni asked the government for land to construct association building to shift the staircase.