KCR turns adversity into opportunity

Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao put his best foot forward when he announced that the 14-storey building in the Games Village in Hyderabad’s Gachibowli would be developed into a 1,500-bed state-of-the-art super-specialty hospital rivalling the best medical facilities in the private sector. He named it Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (TIMS).

It’s good that KCR is now giving health infrastructure the priority it deserves as he combats the Covid-19 pandemic. Scaling up public health infrastructure was not on the radar earlier as no one had anticipated a pandemic of such magnitude, he had reasoned. He should ensure that enough funds are allocated for the future upkeep of the TIMS. Else, such buildings could end up as mere monuments of brick and mortar serving little public purpose.

Ever since the Nizam’s Orthopaedic Hospital was upgraded into the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in the mid-80s, no new government medical facility has come up in Hyderabad. Though the then CM of integrated Andhra Pradesh Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had a facility constructed at Bibinagar near Hyderabad, it was after 30 years that NIMS was revamped. But the Bibinagar hospital, conceived as an extension of NIMS, remained a non-starter for a long time. It was only after the creation of Telangana state in 2014 that the Centre agreed to upgrade it into an AIIMS.

Ramping up healthcare infrastructure in the public sector in Hyderabad is the need of the hour so as to hopefully lift the health index of Telangana to at least that of the national average. The city is already known as a medical hub as it houses several premier corporate hospitals, medical research institutes and major pharma companies. When it rises, the new TIMS will add another jewel to the crown, handing the pandemic a left-handed compliment. As the Bard of Avon said, “Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.” KCR deserves credit for turning the adversity into an opportunity.