HYDERABAD: The fate of close to 300 in-patients at Osmania General Hospital (OGH) has been hanging in the balance ever since the Department of Health and Family Welfare asked the hospital administration to vacate the old building last week.
The administration has been able to accommodate only one ward, of the total eight wards, in the renovated House Surgeons Quarters.
The plan to shift patients to Petlaburj Hospital has also been met with stiff opposition from all the HODs. Therefore, the existing bed capacity of some of the departments have been reduced in the OPD building to accommodate the patients.
Doctors and professors have said that if the current situation continued, the hospital might lose its Post Graduate seats in the next MCI inspection.
“There are a total of four wards on each of the two functional floors at the hospital. Each ward has over 40 beds. Only one ward has been successfully shifted after temporary arrangements were made in the renovated House Surgeons Quarters. However, the hospital has reached its saturation point in terms of space to accommodate all the patients. The only solution now is the construction of a new building,” said Dr Pandu Naik, head of the JAC that has been rallying for a new building for the OGH.
Additionally, doctors have opposed shifting of the patients to Modern Government Maternity, Petlaburj hospital as well.
A senior doctor from the Orthopedics department told Express, “The first issue is that MGM is a gynaecology hospital and therefore it won’t be able to accommodate male patients. Secondly, it will be incredibly difficult for doctors, who have specialised knowledge of certain cases, to cross-reference information from both the hospitals.”
He further added, “The MCI inspection is due in April. If the authorities see how haphazardly the hospital is functioning, there is a high chance that we may lose PG seats in our medical college.”
However, no solution seems to be in sight. Dr B Nagender, superintendent of OGH, said, “We have reduced the bed capacity of few departments in the OPD building to accommodate some of the patients from the old building. We currently do not have clarity if this is a permanent solution or a temporary step.”