Hyderabad: Begumpet slums bereft of basic health facilities

Hyderabad: Densely populated localities in Begumpet, such as Old Custom Basthi, Brahmanwadi, and others are in utter state of neglected by the Health department. The main reason for this is that they are slums. But people living there depend only on private clinics, as no PHCs exist. A narrow Basthi Dawakhana under the Begumpet flyover is the only hospital available to them; it closes after 2 pm.

There is no proper drainage. The huge open nala is a hotspot for ailments. Sanitation work is not done regularly. Locals throw garbage on roads. People complain of contaminated supply as water gets mixed with sewerage resulting in children falling sick.

Residents are forced to go to private clinics or to move to other localities like Sanathnagar, Ameerpet for treatment. Locals claim that their leaders failed to represent issues to the department to set up a health Centre. They are demanding a PHC at least for children.

Speaking on the issue, former National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) vice-chairman M Shashidhar Reddy said "these slums have been left neglected by authorities, as well as the government. Drainage overflows continuously; water stagnates every few days. This is one of the major nalas of the city that joins Tank Bund. Water stagnation causes mosquito-breeding. People, especially children, and aged suffer from ailments".

He demanded the Health department to focus on establishing a PHC in the locality on a war-footing and also to recruit adequate staff for the Basthi Dawakhana, which mostly remains closed due to lack of manpower.

Mohammed Ahmed of Old Custom Basthi complained that the residents are forced to throw garbage on roads or in front of houses, as no garbage pickers come regularly. Twice or thrice a week they collect garbage. It is difficult to bear the stink, especially during monsoon.

Around 15,000 people reside in these localities located under the flyover. Nobody pays attention to their problems, except at election time. The issues did not get resolved even after 50 years. The connecting road to Sanathnagar had been laid ten years ago, Ahmed added.