OGH doctors on warpath over new building

Hyderabad: The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Osmania General Hospital (OGH) staged a peaceful protest on Monday at the lunch break. Doctors, along with staff nurses, PG students and paramedical staff, raised slogans for construction of new building. Dr Pandu Naik, chairman of JAC said in the first phase, the JAC would protest peacefully as patients should not get any discomfort. For one week, the JAC members would give slogans daily at lunch hour, he said.

“In the second phase, the doctors will boycott elective surgeries. Finally, in the third phase all the emergency cases will not be taken,” Pandu Naik said. Jayamma, joint secretary, Telangana State Nurses’ Association said as many as Rs 200 crore was sanctioned by the then Congress government for construction of a new building at OGH.

“But, the government was changed, Telangana was formed, and the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao visited the hospital and told us that new twin towers would be constructed here,” she said. “Till now no action has been taken on the construction of new building. The old building was congested, and the staff was facing many problems with increasing of patients and age-old drainage system,” she said.

Further, she said due to unsafe zone on the second floor, patients were shifted to Petlaburj Hospital. But, the patients were suffering with referral cases to the old building from Petlaburj Hospital as there was only one ambulance available for shifting them, she said and added that the in view of the problems being facing by them, the government had to come forward to build at least a four-floor building.

According to sources, while the government is ready to construct the new building, the heritage issue has come as a major hurdle. A staff doctor, Dr P Nagender, told The Hans India that the government had to take a decision on the construction of building as early as possible.