Hyderabad: Twenty-four doctors are idling this time away at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences as they await transfer to the Bibinagar Nims out-patient department. Nims missed the February 29 deadline, and now is aiming at March 6 to shift the doctors, even as it appeared that the Bibinagar unit will not be developed as an AIIMS- level hospital.
Nims director Dr K. Manohar said the transfer was delayed as the civil works were not complete. “Four departments, gyn-aecology, orthopaedics, general medicine and surgery, will be operational based on the needs of the people,” he said.
A senior officer said that only 42,000 sq.ft. of space was available at the hospital. “Despite sanctioning '80 crore, work on the hospital is not complete. Arrangements have been made to make the out-patient department operational. Other departments will be started after gauging the response of the people,” he said.
The outpatient department needs rooms for doctors, waiting rooms for patients and toilets.
Senior officers said the contractor had not done the work properly, because of which they were facing problems.
Asked whether the state government had not handed over the Bibinagar Nims unit to the Centre to develop as an All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr Manohar said, “The proposal is under the consideration of the Centre.”
The Centre, according to sources, has told the state government that it does not want a ready-made building for AIIMS. According to a senior officer, the Centre had pointed out that Bibinagar Nims campus was of 150 acres while the AIIMS requires 250 acres.But the Centre wanted land, and not a building. The building has to be built according to the standard prescribed for AIIMS. “Given this problem, the state government has been asked to identify land for an AIIMS,” he said.
It is for this reason that the government has again started focusing on the existing structure.
Nims building works in limbo
Civil works are still going on on the three floors of the Millennium Block at the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences in the city. The building is still in the pillar-and-slab stage. A senior doctor said no initiative had been taken for one-and-a-half years to complete the work. Only four floors of the building are operational.
The waiting period for beds at NIMS continues to be a week to 15 days for elective surgeries. A doctor said that in emergency cases, those who have no connections are seen appealing to the doctors and the director for help.
The state government says completing the work is a priority, but the staff is skeptical.
“The work has been going on forever,” said a senior doctor who added that this delay was forcing patients to go to private hospitals as facilities were not ready.
