Once best college, now in bad shape

The Nizamia Tibbi College at Charminar is located in the splendid building opposite the historical Macca Masjid and considered one of the best in India. No one is sure when it was started, but people say it was established by an Afghan scholar in 1810 as Tibbi Madarsa.

It was later shifted to the current building in 1938 by the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan and transformed into a medical college and equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and infrastructure.

In post-independent India, successive governments neglected the Tibbi College and Hospital as well. Governments have been reducing budgetary allocations for both institutions. Vacant posts are not being not filled in time. The Nizamia General Hospital has 116 vacancies out of 210 sanctioned posts and the Nizamia Tibbi College has 66 posts filled out of 141.

According to officials, the college and the hospital are suffering financially. Only `2 lakh has been sanctioned for medicines and `1.5 lakh for maintenance, which is insufficient. The hospital needs `20 lakh for medicines.

According to chief medical officer Dr M.A. Majid, the hospital has 180 beds. There is an urgent need to improve the infrastructure and amenities for patients.

According to the staff, the lack of facilities and poor infrastructure has resulted in the number of patients falling to 600-700 daily from about 1,500. If the government sanctions `5 crore to revamp the hospital, it can render effective and efficient service.