HYDERABAD: Though the chief minister has issued directions to shift the in-patient (IP) block of Osmania General Hospital (OGH), within a week, health administrators are apprehensive about meeting the deadline as finding an alternative premises to accommodate the 850-bed facility appears difficult.
Right now, there are about 850 beds in the in-patient block and many departments like general medicine, general surgery, gastroenterology, orthopaedics and neurology are functioning in the dilapidated building.
As finding an alternative premises with huge space to accommodate all these facilities at a single location is ruled out, officials are planning to shift these departments separately to various speciality and area hospitals functioning in the city right now.
Health minister C Laxma Reddy along with health department officials visited area hospitals at King Koti, Nampally, Vanasthalipuram and Malakpet on Friday to examine the facilities and beds available at these hospitals. The minister had also visited Fever Hospital on Thursday.
But as an area hospital cannot provide alternative arrangements for more than 100 beds and also does not have an operation theatre, which can cater to the requirements of speciality departments, officials opine that OGH’s in-patient block may be probably relocated to a speciality hospital like Niloufer or Fever hospital.
There is a newly-constructed block at Niloufer hospital which can house up to 600 patients. Also there is an operation theatre facility at Niloufer hospital.
“We are mulling over various options to relocate OGH’s IP block and lot of planning needs to be done. It will take time to get clarity as to where the IP block will be shifted,” stated senior official from health department.