Govt hospitals insensitive to woes of patients’ relatives

- Attendants of patients covert every inch of available space in Gandhi hospital for shelter
- Situation in all hospitals is same
- They are reluctant to allot land to GHMC to build shelter
- Two years have elapsed since the idea of constructing shelters is planned

Hyderabad: Every inch of space, whether they are pavements, parking area, verandas and staircases have turned into shelters for relatives of patients at Gandhi Hospital. With no place to take a rest, attendants are forced to stay in the open braving the scorching sun. The GHMC’s plan to construct a night shelter at the hospital has failed to get off the ground. The same is the case with all the government hospitals.

In 2014, the GHMC planned to construct shelters at Osmania General Hospital, ENT Hospital, Koti, Maternity Hospital, NIMS, Niloufer Hospital, Maternity Hospital near City College, Petlaburz and Gandhi Hospital. Of the proposed shelters at seven hospitals, none are operational.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials said that the two hospitals had reservations in allotting land. Attempts to contact the superintendent of Gandhi hospital proved futile. According to reliable sources Gandhi hospital has been reluctant to allot land for building shelters, citing the construction of additional buildings for internal purposes the reason.

In most of the hospitals foundation work has been taken up, except at Koti Maternity hospital where three floors were being constructed. Ashwini Kumar, Superintending Engineer GHMC, said finishing works were taken up on the second floor work would begin at Niloufer hospital in a week. Due to the shifting of maternity wing of Osmania hospital to Maternity hospital Petlaburz, patients have been shifted to Mahaveer hospital.

According to estimates, close to 7,000 attendants sleep in the open in all hospitals put together. Relatives of patients come from districts are forced to sleep in the open. Officials at the Telangana State Medical Infrastructure Development Council said that availability of land was an issue. On an average about 400 attendants of patients are left to fend for themselves at the Gandhi hospital. Kommuri Ravi, a relative of a patient said, “We cannot afford to stay in lodging houses and going home every day is not an option either.”

At the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), too, the situation is bad. Save for a patient attendant waiting hall next to the trauma EMD that was opened two years ago which was sponsored by a private company, relatives of patients are left in the lurch. Sita, a resident of Miyapur said, “We wait under the trees and when the crowd dwindles we take a nap. If there was a shelter it would have been helpful.” The patients waiting room can accommodate just 120 at a time.

Work at NIMS has not started as GHMC officials said that till date three sites were shown but no action was taken to see that they be handed it over. In the latest development, authorities at NIMS had allotted a quarter from which a staffer refused to to vacate.

T P Venu