Criminals, convicts, political prisoners and white collar offenders are put up in the same blocks with ordinary patients at Nims as the hospital does not have a separate jail ward. While Gandhi and Osmania hospitals have jail wards where prisoners have police escorts and are treated without being given any special facilities, offenders coming to Nims are given VIP treatment including laptops and phones.

Authorities at Nims, however, say that they are planning to start a jail ward soon in a separate corner of the hospital. Nims has always been the hub of high profile offenders and prisoners including Ramalinga Raju, Paritala Ravi murder-accused Suri and the latest being double murder accused Jairam Reddy. While Raju, stationed at Mettu Ranga Reddy ward, was provided with mobile phones, laptops, money and homemade food, Suri, put up in the Millennium Block, had been found moving around without escorts. Allegedly, visitors, including some small-time film artists, were allowed to meet him even at night.

The case of Jairam Reddy, who managed to stay at Nims for 43 days without revealing his identity, is well-known. “Nims never had a separate jail ward because very few prisoners were brought here accompanied by escorts under directions from the Home department whether for admission or as Out Patients. But now, it has been decided to set up a small, secured unit with a few beds at one corner of the hospital for criminals or political prisoners or Naxalites, complete with ICU, ventilators etc.

While Nims is lenient towards VIPs, Dr Vasant Prasad, director of medical education and superintendent of OGH said, “At Osmania, we can house six-seven prisoners and they are brought from various districts. The stringent security makes it more a prison than a hospital ward. Only doctors are allowed inside in the presence of the police,” he said.