The Telangana government has decided to demolish the Osmania General Hospital (OGH) building in Hyderabad, a heritage structure that was constructed in 1926. The government made its intent clear in the affidavit given to the Telangana High Court on Thursday, July 27, stating that the building would be demolished as it was “unsafe for patients.” Health, Medical and Family Welfare Secretary SAM Rizvi submitted a report to the High Court about the construction of a new building after the demolition of the existing structure. The government submitted this in response to a batch of pending PILs and writ petitions.
The government in its report said that the heritage structure was no longer suitable to provide modern medical facilities to patients, for which they proposed to raze down the building along with other satellite buildings. A new hospital would be constructed in its place, it said.
“The old building is unfit for any kind of patient care, and the said building is to be removed along with the other satellite buildings for the development of an alternative hospital of 35.76 lakh sq ft,” the report said.
The report pointed out that the old building was vacated in 2020, which reduced its patient capacity from 1,385 to 1,100, leading to overcrowding of patients and burdening the hospital administration. In July 2020, after the hospital was inundated with flood water, the old structure was vacated and sealed.
The government also said that it took the decision to raze the structure following a meeting on July 3, which was attended by Ministers Mahmood Ali and Talsani Srinivas, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, and officials from the Health Department, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Roads and Buildings, and OGH representatives.
During the meeting, the experts unanimously agreed that the existing building was not safe for hospital operations. “It was unanimously opined that the old building is unfit for any kind of patient care and that the said building is to be removed along with other satellite buildings for development of alternative hospital building of 35.76 lakh sq ft in compliance to the IPHS, NBC 2016 and other guidelines,” the report said.
The report said that the demolition of the building was necessitated as the actual size of the hospital was 24.417 acres, excluding religious structures, a graveyard, and a police station. “The available land was just sufficient to construct a new building with 1,812 beds,” the report said.
Located on the banks of the Musi river, the OGH was designed by British architect Vincent Esch and is a listed heritage structure.
The decision to demolish the hospital, which was constructed by Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad, was taken in 2015. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who had inspected the dilapidated building, announced the decision to raze down the structure that was plagued with complaints of ceilings collapsing on patients and doctors. He announced that a new hospital would be constructed in its place with a grant of Rs 200 crore.
However, petitions were filed against the move by heritage enthusiasts who demanded renovation of the hospital.