HYDERABAD

Deputy Floor Leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana Assembly T. Harish Rao has criticised the State Government for allowing only the out-patient (OP) services at Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) in Sanathnagar, instead of making it operational with full-fledged services including the in-patient treatment.

Mr. Rao said on Monday (August 17, 2026) that it was unfortunate that a health facility developed with ₹1,000 crore was being limited only for the OP services and just change of name of the hospital would not alter the facts about who planned the facility and who constructed it. On the lines of claiming credit by giving appointment letters to employees selected during the BRS rule, the present government publicised the inauguration of TIMS as its own hard work.

It was the former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao who planned three super speciality hospitals on three sides of the city, Alwal, Sanathnagar and L.B. Nagar, to extend corporate-level super speciality healthcare services to the poor and took up construction and almost completed them by the time the BRS government demitted the office.

With 1,000 beds each, the construction of three hospitals was taken up with ₹2,679 crore. It was after the Congress government assumed office it had changed dates and deadlines several times for their inauguration. Along with the three TIMS, the BRS government had also taken up a multi-super speciality hospital at Warangal and a 2,000-bed block in NIMS, but the government was delaying them too.

Telangana Health Minister C. Damodar Raja Narasimha has directed officials to expedite preparations for the full-scale rollout of medical services at the Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (MCR TIMS), Sanathnagar in Hyderabad with a focus on addressing shortcomings identified during the ongoing trial run — which commenced on May 1.

What was reviewed?

The Minister reviewed the hospital’s preparedness at a meeting in Hyderabad on Thursday (August 6, 2026). The trial-run of medical services, infrastructure, medical equipment, recruitment of doctors and other personnel, and the readiness of individual departments were covered at the review meeting.

The minister said the government was developing MCR TIMS as a super-specialty healthcare institution and directed officials to ensure that all departments were fully equipped to provide medical services without inconvenience to patients once the hospital becomes fully operational.

The officials were directed to identify and rectify deficiencies noticed during the trial run and prepare a special action plan to ensure coordination among different departments and services. These include outpatient and inpatient services, emergency care, intensive care units, operation theatres, diagnostics, laboratories, pharmacy, central sterile services, patient registration and IT systems.

The Minister also reviewed the preparedness of other services, including electricity and water supply, medical oxygen lines, biomedical waste management, sanitation and security. He directed officials to ensure that these systems were fully functional to prevent disruptions to patient care.

Human resources were another focus of the review, with the Minister examining the availability of doctors, nurses, paramedical personnel, technicians and administrative staff. He sought details of the recruitment process and directed officials to complete hiring at the earliest in a transparent manner. Adequate personnel should be available across departments from the time the hospital begins full-scale operations, he said.