Hyderabad: Government Nizamia hospital, college cry for attention

Charminar: The Government Nizamia General Hospital (Charminar Dawakhana) and Nizamia Tibbi College, near here, need to be repaired. A matter of concern for the hospital staff and the visiting patients is that it needs lots of repairs, as it is in a dilapidated condition.

The staff say there was an utmost need for the government to repair the hospital, specially the roof, as during rains chunks from it and walls continue to fall. The historic buildings of the hospital and the college highlight the government's apathy towards conserving a heritage structure.

However, despite it being a heritage structure, its preservation is being grossly neglected by authorities. Patients claim that it has become extremely unsafe to move inside the building, as plaster keeps falling from the roofs. The situation has remained the same for the past several years. Neither the department nor the government is taking interest in repairing the heritage building to its former glory," said Mohammed Ayub, a patient.

The college building is in a dilapidated condition. Nearly every wall is damaged, cracks have developed, and the plaster of walls and roofs has started peeling off. "During rains, the condition of the structure turns bad to worse and which is also posing a danger.

Witnessing the condition, the college and hospital staff also gave a representation to the area MLA and asked for immediate consideration," said Shahzadi Sultana, In-charge of the college.

The building, specially the southern portion, is in bad condition and needs immediate attention. She said, despite several reminders, there is no focus on renovation and restoration of the structure." On Monday Charminar MLA Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, along with the college staff, inspected the premises and the hostel. Khan said a few days back the staff had called on him and shared the problems faced by them due to dilapidated building and also of the worst condition of the hostel. They sought restoration work of the building.

"The AIMIM has been representing to the State government for taking up restoration work of the historic building, but still its preservation is being grossly neglected. I appeal to the government to restore the historic building to its glory," he added.

The hospital has been serving since 1938 and is famous all over the country for its research work on the Unani system. It has been providing the best Unani medicine. Many people come for treatment from other States.

The renovation and refurbishing of the college and hospital was started by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy of united AP in 2011.Works costing Rs 3 crore were sanctioned.

In its first phase, work of the outer structure was taken up and only half was completed. The remaining work was stopped. Since then no work was done.