Major opposition parties were up in arms against the Telangana government’s decision to shift the Chest Hospital at Erragadda to TB Sanatorium in Anantagiri of Ranga Reddy district.
TPCC vice-president Md Ali Shabbir at a press conference here on Wednesday demanded that the State government modify the Government Order (GO) 61. However, he said the administrative sanction of Rs. 7.70 crore for repairs and modernisation of TB Sanatorium at Vikarabad should be honoured.
The Congress leader said it was illogical to shift a teaching hospital attached to the Osmania Medical College. Quoting MCI rules, he said a teaching hospital should be located within eight km radius of the medical college. Osmania Medical College would lose 11 PG seats in Pulmonology due to this move.
Mr. Shabbir said that the Chief Minister was initially planning to convert the hospital land into a parade ground.
“Now he wants to construct a new Secretariat,” he said, pointing out that the present Secretariat building would be half empty once the AP government shifts to the new capital.
He said the 670-bedded hospital gets an inflow of nearly 200 patients suffering from breathing or respiratory problems and an equal number of HIV patients with TB co-infection on daily basis.
It also houses a 100-bedded facility for HIV patients, which is one of its kind in India. He said patients at various stages of tuberculosis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, lung cancer, swine flu (H1N1) and also HIV would face a lot of inconvenience if the hospital was shifted.
BJP national committee member Nagam Janardhan Reddy said shifting the hospital amounted to injustice. “Hundreds of poor people go to the Chest Hospital everyday. They cannot afford the expenses of travelling long distances for their medical needs. He cannot make them travel so far,” he said categorically.
Poor people cannot afford the expenses of travelling long distances for their medical needs
– Nagam Janardhan Reddy
BJP leader
