TB Hospital in Anantagiri gets facelift

Local residents express fear that Tourism may be hit

Vikarabad (Ranga Reddy): With the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government deciding to shift the Chest Hospital from Erragadda in Hyderabad to Anantagiri Hills in Vikarabad, the 80-year old TB hospital in Vikarabad will get a face lift.

The State government also passed a GO releasing Rs 7 crore for renovating the administrative building of the hospital and the officials concerned have taken up steps on a war-footing to shift the hospital to Anantagiri hills as soon as possible.

Established by the Nizam of Hyderabad, the TB hospital cured several lakhs of people coming from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra for treatment. The hospital contains a total of 417 beds, 50 doctors’ quarters and 50 nurses’ quarters. Unfortunately, all these rooms are in a dilapidated condition and may collapse anytime.

The hospital, which was constructed on 160 acres has seven wards comprising two women’s wards, one children’s ward, four men’s wards, and 26 paying rooms. With new medicines to treat TB being manufactured in large quantities, there has been a fall in the number of patients visiting the hospital and it has been more or less reduced to a diagnostic centre to confirm the disease. Speaking to The Hans India here on Sunday, Anantagiri TB Hospital Superintendent Dr Vidyasagar said that there were adequate facilities in Anantagiri and there was no problem in shifting the chest hospital here. He said that the staff which was sent on deputation to Erragadda Chest hospital should be called back here and some more additional staff needed to be appointed.

He said that coming to Vikarabad would not be a problem as it has rail and road connectivity. People could come here easily from Medak, Mahbubabad and Nalgonda and also from the neighboring state of Karnataka to avail medical services, he said.

However, there were fears that the setting up of the TB hospital may result in a fall in the number of tourists visiting here. The Anantagiri hills is a beautiful tourist spot with many important temples like Sri Ananta Padmanabha temple which attract large number of tourists. With the shifting of the chest hospital and the institute of mental health, the tourists might be discouraged to come here for fear of the dreaded tuberculosis spreading in the district.

Even the local populace was opposed to the shifting of the chest hospital here as they fear that the tourism industry, which was gradually picking up in recent times, would be badly hit.

By: Muralikrishna