WARANGAL: With crumbling walls, leaking ceilings and peeling plaster, the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital here reflects a sad state of affairs in the state healthcare sector. Raising concern over the dilapidated condition of the hospital, patients and their relatives express fear that the ceiling could collapse at any moment.
Warangal is slated to become state’s next medical hub, and MGM Hospital currently serves as the largest government hospital for six districts in northern Telangana. The state government is constructing a super-speciality hospital, referred to as a “health city”, in place of the Warangal Central Prison.
Due to MGM’s status as a major medical facility, patients from remote villages continue to travel to the hospital, which, as a teaching facility, treats 500-600 outpatients daily and provides inpatient services for 1,000 beds. However, the hospital currently accommodates 1,200 inpatients, stretching resources and infrastructure beyond its capacity.
T Srinivas, a Warangal resident who admitted his father to the hospital for treatment, has expressed his frustration pointing to lack of basic amenities in the wards and leaky ceiling in male patient wards. “The government must take proactive steps to improve infrastructure in state-run hospitals,” he urged.
When TNIE visited the hospital, extensive structural deterioration across male and female wards, prisoner patient wards and the Resident Medical Officer’s office were noticed. The corridors are littered with plaster peelings, and parts of the roof in several wards bear testimony to extensive seepage.
MGM Hospital superintendent Dr Ch Murali admitted that sections of ward ceilings were indeed in bad shape. “We have already informed the authorities concerned about the repairs required,” he told TNIE.
He added that officials from the Telangana State Medical Infrastructure Development Corporation (TGMIDC) have assessed the damages and will submit a report to the state government for funding to carry out repairs.
