HYDERABAD: Despite the High Court's directive, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has failed in providing adequate night shelters for attendants of Covid-19 patients who are undergoing treatment at city hospitals.
The attendants are instead sleeping on the roadsides near the hospitals and on footpaths. Some are living in tents underneath the Gandhi Hospital Metro Rail station.
While pulling up GHMC for Covid-19 mismanagement, the High Court had on April 25 specifically asked the corporation to arrange night shelters for migrants and people who have brought their kin to hospitals in Hyderabad for treatment of the Coronavirus infection. GHMC commissioner D. S. Lokesh Kumar had then told the court that the civic body is fully geared up to accommodate the deprived, destitute and others in 20 shelter homes. He went on to inform the court that 265 people had then already been living in Begumpet shelter home.
However, when it comes to reality, the corporation has completely turned ignored attendants of patients admitted in major government hospitals who have come from various parts of the state and even other cities of the country. Further, it is learnt civic authorities have not even contacted managements of government hospitals with regard to accommodating patients’ attendants at shelters located at the city hospitals.
About 15 attendants are living under the Gandhi Hospital Metro Rail station. One of them, Kondapalli Kamal Prasad, hails from a remote village in Khammam district. He said his brother had tested positive for the Coronavirus and admitted to a clinic in Khammam town. Since his health condition deteriorated, he was immediately shifted to Gandhi Hospital. “I have been staying on the footpath near Gandhi Hospital for four days. I am allowed to see my brother only once in a day. After that, they ask me to wait outside the hospital. I have been living under the metro station along with 15 others", he said.
Similarly, Naresh, an attendant from Warangal, said he has been living with the destitute near the hospital. He depends on NGOs or Annapurna Canteen for food. "When I asked hospital staff for accommodation, they told me I should approach the GHMC for permission. However, despite all attempts, I have not been able to enter the shelter present at the Gandhi Hospital", he stated.
When contacted, GHMC officials passed the buck from one to another. A senior civic official, requesting anonymity, said the homeless do not want to shift to night shelters as they have got used to their existing place. “We have tried to educate them through NGOs and existing inmates about the facilities and quality of living in night shelters. But they are refusing to move,” the official maintained.
Hyderabad has six-night shelters dedicated to government hospitals – at Maternity Hospital, Kothi (ground plus two floors costing Rs 1.95 crore), Gandhi Hospital (second floor – Rs 92.71 lakh), Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (ground plus two – Rs 2.61 crore), Niloufer Hospital (G+1 – Rs 2.60 crore), Osmania General Hospital (G+1 – Rs 2.77 crore), ENT Hospital, Kothi (G+2, Rs 2.90 crore), which can accommodate 600 attendants of poor patients.
