Orthopaedic department was the first one to be moved out of the Osmania General Hospital (OGH) building to King Koti Area Hospital on Wednesday. Emergency and outpatient services, however, for all the health wings will continue to operate from the OGH campus as health authorities embarked on the complex and delicate operation of shifting a few wings to other hospitals as a runup to demolishing old buildings and constructing new ones.
The shifting of the medical wings is being done in such a way that healthcare services continue to be provided in King Koti Area Hospital, Sultan Bazaar Maternity Hospital and OGH simultaneously. The health authorities have maintained that shifting of health wings will be taken up in a manner that would be least intrusive with patient services.
“We have divided our staff and they will now work from two different places simultaneously. At present, there are 114 patients recovering in the in-patient wards out of which we shifted close to 24 on Wednesday. It will take at least 10 days for us to complete the shifting process,” said Head, Orthopaedics, OGH, G.V.S. Murthy.
Nearly 16 caregivers, comprising three assistant professors, seven speciality doctors and six junior doctors along with the proportionate number of nurses, paramedical staff and class four employees from orthopaedic department will now start working out of King Koti Area Hospital.
“We have doctors on the existing OGH campus to operate emergency and outpatient services. In-patient recuperating wards and operation theatres for surgeries will be provided in the King Koti Area Hospital. So, we will be working simultaneously at King Koti hospital and OGH,” Dr. Murthy said.
Senior doctors said that the process of shifting the remaining wings that include general medicine, general surgery, gastroenterology and surgical gastroenterology would commence in the next few days. “There is a need to take up minor adjustments and repairs at Sultan Bazaar Maternity Hospital and King Koti Area Hospital to meet the needs of the health department. However, we do not intend to slow down the shifting process. It will take at least a month to complete the process,” Narender, senior OGH doctor, said.
Meanwhile, members of Telangana Doctors’ Forum (TDF) urged the State government to develop OGH on the lines of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The TDF members also pointed out that there was a need to safeguard the old OGH building because of its heritage status.
“It’s possible to come up with a solution acceptable to all. The heritage building is just spread on 2.5 acres while the OGH campus is close to 26 acres. There is a need to conserve the heritage building and at the same time have a modern structure like AIIMS. We hope that the government manages to find a middle road,” says Chairperson, TDF, A. Gopal Kishan.
