City of Pearls put riders on patients earlier too

HYDERABAD: A row has erupted over ambulances from Andhra Pradesh and other states entering Telangana carrying Covid-19 patients for treatment in hospitals in Hyderabad.
Though it may sound strange, it is not for the first time such a situation has emerged. The princely Hyderabad State, whose dominion extended over some districts of present-day Karnataka and Maharashtra, had witnessed a similar situation when the plague and the Spanish flu wreaked havoc.

The City of Pearls gets many patients, seeking treatment, mostly from these states even now as they still lack medical infrastructure. Hyderabad State then had 16 districts (part of four divisions) where Aurangabad division included Aurangabad, Beed, Nanded and Parabhani districts. This entire division is now part of Maharashtra and shares the border with erstwhile Nizamabad district.
Gulbarga division, included Bidar, Gulbarga and Raichur districts which are now part of Karnataka. The division also had Osmanabad (now Latur district in Maharashtra) . The other divisions of Gulshanabad or Medak and Warangal division had present day districts of Telangana. Post-independence, when Hyderabad (with Telangana districts) and Andhra state merged, the city became hub of private hospitals in addition to government infrastructure already created by the Nizams.
In modern day Telangana, 17 of 33 districts share borders with other states, including AP. Though Hyderabad does not share border with AP, it is close to Krishna, Guntur districts. Also, people from East and West Godavari districts seek medical facilities in Hyderabad. Also, the city has several super-specialty hospitals and over 1,000 medium-level hospitals. Being a medical hub, historically, Telangana and Hyderabad, had tackled outbreaks of epidemics like the plague, small pox and cholera in the modern era.
The current Telangana government is not preventing anyone from other states bringing Covid negative certificates to visit. However, there was a time when quarantine was the norm. During outbreaks of plague, people from Maharashtra intending to visit Hyderabad had to be quarantined. “When passengers from Wadi (Maharashtra) entered Hyderabad, rulers were quick to send them to quarantine. Travellers from there were found in railway stations and sent to isolation centres,” historian and professor Adapa Satyanarayana said.