Date: 20-06-2026
To,
Shri. Damodara Raja Narasimha
Minster for Health, Govt. Telangana
Telangana state
Sub: Collapse of public healthcare conditions in Osmania General Hospital, Afzalgunj, Hyderabad. Immediate emergency intervention demanded
Dear Sir,
The Human Rights Forum expresses its deep concern and outrage over the rapidly deteriorating conditions in Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad, which cantinues to remain the largest refuge for thousands of poor and marginalized patients from Telangana and neighbouring states.
Our fact finding committee recently visited the hospital, interacted with patients, attendants, doctors, nurses, and the R. M.O, and observed a shocking collapse of basic healthcare facilities. The conditions prevailing in the hospital today are not merely administrative deficiencles but amount to a serious denial of the Right to Health and Human Dignity guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Osmania General Hospital is not an ordinary institution. Nearly 2,000 outpatients visit the hospital every day. Around 60-80 admissions take place daily. Every night, the casualty and emergency wards receive nearly 20 serious cases, including accident victims, suicide attempts, stabbing victims, and emergency patients from the poorest localities of Hyderabad.
The hospital also serves poor patients from Raichur and Gulbarga regions of Karnataka, and Parbhani, Akola, Aurangabad, and Osmanabad regions of Maharashtra. For thousands of economically vulnerable families, Osmania Hospital is the only accessible centre for affordable and life-saving treatment. However, instead of strengthening this historic public institution, the government machinery appears to have allowed it to drift into a state of neglect and administrative paralysis.
Our committee observed the following alarming conditions:
- The hospital is facing a severe drinking water crisis. The bore well has reportedly dried up and municipal water supply has drastically fallen. Patients and attendants are being forced to purchase water from private vendors. A shameful private water business is flourishing within a major government hospital.
- There is an acute shortage of nurses. Nearly 60 staff nurses were transferred recently, while only 30 replacements were reportedly posted.
- Staff members informed us that at least 40 more nurses are urgently required.
- Several departments are functioning with inadequate medical personnel.
- At least 10 doctors are immediately needed to manage the patient burden. The shortage of beds has become inhuman. Patients are being forced to lie on floors and corridors without dignity, privacy, or proper medical care. Such conditions are unacceptable in any civilized society.
- CT. Scan Machine is not functioning due to some technical problem. Patients were sent to Gandhi Hospital and MNJ. Hospital for CT. Scan examination. But of late, we came to know that their C.T. Scan instrument has become disfunctional.
- The R.M.O himself expressed helplessness before our committee and admitted that proper healthcare delivery has become extremely difficult under present conditions. The present situation in Osmania General Hospital reflects the larger crisis confronting public healthcare in Telangana. The burden of this collapse is falling entirely upon poor patients who cannot afford private corporate hospitals.
We therefore demand the following immediate measures:
- Immediate restoration of adequate drinking water supply to the hospital;
- Emergency recruitment and deployment of doctors, nurses, and support staff;
- Immediate expansion of bed capacity and inpatient facilities;
- Arrange for the repair of CT. Scan machine immediately.
- A comprehensive review of infrastructure and healthcare delivery in Osmania General Hospital;
- Direct intervention by the Hon’ble Minister for Health and senior government authorities.
The Government must recognize that denial of humane healthcare to poor patients is not merely an administrative lapse but a grave human rights issue.
If immediate corrective measures are not initiated, the Human Rights Forum will be compelled to place these issues before the State Human Rights Commission, civil society organizations, and the wider public.
We urge the Government to act without delay.
Yours sincerely,
S. Jeevan Kumar, Coordination Committee member of Telangana & A. P. States -9848986286
Syed Bilal, Vice-President HRF, City Unit 8639890721
Sanjeev, General Secretary HRF, City Unit -99855 88384
Copy to:
- Pl. Secretary, Dept. of Health, Secretariat.
- Director of Health and Family Planning, Govt. Of Telangana.
- Superintendent, Govt. Osmania General Hospital, Afzalgunj, Hyderabad.