HYDERABAD: The curtains have fallen on the historic century-old heritage block of Osmania General Hospital (OGH) as all six wards and two operation theaters have been moved into new buildings in the same campus to prevent any untoward incident as the structure was crumbling.
The shifting was expedited over the last week after heavy rains flooded the heritage block on two successive days leaving ailing patients in knee-deep water. The incident brought embarrassment to the government as it is the only major hospital in the state which is managing general ailments and patients since the Gandhi Hospital was made a dedicated COVID treatment centre.
"We wanted to avert any mishaps as it was a huge risk to keep patients there. It was not only due to the inundation but the walls have also been weakened which is why it was in the best interests of patients to shift them to other buildings," noted Pandu Naik, interim Superintendent of the OGH.
With this, the saga of medical services in the heritage hospital has come to a close after several protests and deliberations to renovate and demolish it had taken place.
While the six wards have been shifted to Quli Qutub Shah building, the two operation theaters (OT) will function out of the emergency OT and the Quli Qutub Shah OT complex, informed the interim Superintendent.
Meanwhile, work on the rainwater canal passing below the OGH is still going on. Though the obstructions have been removed, the reconstruction of the drain is a herculean task as the flow of water is too high. Factoring in the time that will be taken for this, officials decided to end all patient care services in the OGH.