Nizam's Osmania Hospital to be renovated to past glory

The massive structure of the Osmania General Hospital on the banks of river Musi here, will be taken up for renovation at a cost of Rs 25 crore. The Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender made this announcement four years after it was decided to shift the patients to safer places, when the plaster from the ceiling of the first hospital building built during Nizam's time.

The initial move to demolish and construct a new complex was taken up immediately after K Chandrasekhar Rao who took over as the first chief minister of Telangana. However, historians and the kin of the Nizam have raised objections. A committee that inspected the structure concluded that the main structure was intact and there was no need for demolition. They wanted the government to renovate the structure which is mostly made up of lime, designed by architect Vincent Jerome Esch and built at a cost of Rs 20 lakh.

The hospital, like other structures from Nizam's time, has massive domes that can be seen from a long distance in close proximity to the High Court. This has 11 major blocks out of which eight are classified as unstable. The successive governments have added two more buildings to the complex.

While there were demands of converting the hospital as a memorial of the Nizam and build new hospital in the open space of the complex, the government has finally decided to keep the hospital in its original shape and renovate it block by block without shifting too many departments.

Welcoming the move, Nawab Najaf Ali Khan in a statement said that the Nizam King appreciates the announcement of restoration and addition of four new towers which was long-awaited.

"The Osmania General Hospital building was built by my grandfather Sir Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur Nizam VII in 1919 and the treatment, medicines, food for the patients and their attendees was given free from the Royal treasury during his reign," he recalled.

“It was disheartening for the members of the Nizam family to see a structure which was built with a great vision suffering from such a sorry state, whereas it can sustain for another 200 years as per the INTACH report,” the statement said adding that the renovation will help poor people.