Hyderabad: New Osmania General Hospital building to be constructed in Goshamahal.

Hyderabad: In a win for heritage enthusiasts, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy announced that the new Osmania General Hospital (OGH) building will be constructed on 30 acres in Goshamahal, while the existing heritage building will be restored.

Revanth Reddy informed the Assembly that the foundation stone for the new Osmania General Hospital (OGH) building will be laid on the site of the old police quarters within the next 20 days. He made this announcement in response to a query from All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi regarding the hospital’s buildings.

The former BRS government, led by K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR), had planned to demolish the heritage structure of Osmania General Hospital and replace it with a new facility on the same site. Before losing to Congress in the Assembly elections last year, they proposed tearing down the old building to construct a modern hospital with 1,812 beds. This decision faced criticism from heritage activists.

In contrast, the Congress party’s manifesto for the Assembly elections had promised to preserve the heritage structure of Osmania General Hospital while developing state-of-the-art healthcare infrastructure on the same site. However, the Congress government reportedly backtracked on this promise and reiterated the need to demolish the old structure and construct a new building on the site.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi stirred controversy and faced backlash from activists when he suggested demolishing the heritage building of Osmania General Hospital to make way for a new hospital structure.

While the infrastructure of Osmania Hospital is indeed in disrepair, the heritage building, constructed in the 1920s by Hyderabad’s last Nizam, occupies only three out of the total 26 acres of the site.

Well-known architect Srinivas Murthy, who designed the Yashoda Hospital Gachibowli site, presented several alternatives last year at Lamakaan. Other activists have consistently pointed out that there is ample space available to build a new hospital without demolishing the heritage structure.

History of Osmania General Hospital

Osmania General Hospital was completed in 1925, following a severe outbreak of bubonic plague in Hyderabad around 1911. In response, the city administration addressed the public health crisis, and Nizam Osman Ali Khan (1911-48) established the City Improvement Board (CIB) in 1912 to enhance Hyderabad’s infrastructure. The hospital was designed by architect Vincent Esch, who also designed the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata.

The original heritage building of Osmania Hospital, along with other landmarks like the High Court and City College, exemplifies the Osmania style or Indo-Saracenic architecture. This architectural genre is a crucial part of Hyderabad’s 20th-century riverscape and skyline. Under Osman Ali Khan’s reign, the CIB transformed the medieval city into a modern metropolis, introducing infrastructure such as the High Court and railway stations.