HYDERABAD : With the State Government announcing plans for a 750-bed hospital at Petlaburj to replace the Nayapul Government Maternity Hospital, the fate of two major projects that were on at the existing 150-year-old hospital's premises now appears bleak.

Work on both projects, which included a Rs. 70 lakh gynaecology ward above the building's second floor and a Rs. 150 crore multipurpose block comprising an in-patient wing, administration unit and a blood bank, has come to a standstill already.

Construction of the gynaecology ward was stopped four months back after it reached roof-level while the multipurpose block looks abandoned just when work was to begin. Health Minister K. Rosaiah laid the foundation stone for both projects in February 2005.

Staff members say that since the proposed 750-bed hospital could take at least five years to become functional, these projects, if completed, would have been of immense help to patients.

"We do not know why exactly the work was stopped. The projects were being handled by the Quli Qutb Shah Urban Development Authority (QQSUDA)," a hospital staff member said.

The existing hospital has just 462 beds for nearly 100 admissions daily apart from 700 to 800 outpatients each day. Space is not the only problem badgering the hospital that handles 18,000 deliveries along with 6,000 Caesareans and another 8,000 gynaecological surgeries every year. Most wards here have walls with plaster peeling off, leaking roofs, overflowing drains and wobbly beds.

Another version is that the projects could have been shelved in connection with the proposal to wind up QQSUDA itself. "In that case, it is not just the Maternity Hospital that will suffer. Even Osmania General Hospital was among the QQSUDA's beneficiaries with work going on for a third floor for super specialties, costing over Rs. 2.5 crore," the staff say.

With neither the Government nor the QQSUDA shedding light on the future of these projects, patients and managements of both Nayapul Maternity Hospital and Osmania General Hospital find themselves groping in a blind alley.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail