Mini clusters come out from Hyderabad's Osmania General Hospital with non-COVID cases

HYDERABAD: With virtually no government hospital taking in major non-COVID medical cases, all burden has fallen on the lone Osmania General Hospital (OGH) in Hyderabad which is struggling to work out of the smaller Quli Qutub Shah Building into which the whole of the old building was cramped last year.

Owing to the paucity of space, mini-COVID clusters are erupting in the cramped hospital wards. Sources say that since April, at least 80 patients got COVID-19 from within the hospital after having surgery. It is likely they contracted it from the post-operative ward.

"Since the heritage building is closed, there's a lot of overcrowding in the newly allotted wards because of which post-operative patients are contracting COVID-19. In many cases, their immunity is already low due to the pre-existing issues, and the infection only accelerates their death," said a doctor working in the hospital.

The OGH’S surgery ward has shrunk from a lavish 200-bedded department to just 80 beds in the new building. Express has learnt these are spread across the two buildings making it extremely difficult to manage patients.

"We are getting patients from Warangal as well, as Kakatiya Medical College has been pressed into COVID-19 work. The situation is so bad that doctors are standing congested in Operation Theaters because the area is so small and caseload is very high for non-COVID care," a source revealed.

In the emergency area as well, several patients coming for trauma cases are turning out to be COVID-19 positive. The hospital is now shifting these post-operative Covid patients to District King Koti Hospital due to the lack of space. "We have no choice but to shift the patients and monitor them remotely," added another doctor.

Meanwhile, the doctors, despite having protested to be shifted to a new building for years due to the dilapidated condition of the heritage building owing to poor maintenance. However, after being cramped into the new set-up with limited space, they want to shift back.

"We need a more spacious set-up. Since a new building will not happen anytime soon, we must shift some wards to the old buildings which have no flooding issue now. If this is delayed, many more will succumb to COVID-19 in OGH," said a doctor.