Seven infants dead. More than twenty injured. And the official explanation, according to BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao, was not negligence by hospital staff — it was mice. On Saturday, 31 October 2026, KTR turned a searing spotlight on Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), a state-run hospital in Telangana, reigniting a fierce debate over the Congress government's stewardship of public healthcare. Posting on X, KTR wrote: 'Again It's the same RIMS hospital where 7 infants had died and more than 20 infants were injured due to the negligence of Govt officials. Guess who was held responsible for the deaths of 7 infants? Not any hospital official — Mice.' The post carried the hashtag #CongressFailedTelangana, making the political charge unmistakable.

RIMS: A Hospital Under Repeated Scrutiny

RIMS is one of Telangana's flagship state-run medical institutions, designed to serve patients who cannot afford private care. KTR's reference to it as 'the same' hospital signals a pattern he is drawing attention to — not an isolated incident but a recurring site of alleged systemic failure. The allegation that rodent activity was cited as the official cause of infant deaths, rather than administrative or clinical lapses, is what sharpens the attack into something visceral.

Congress in Power, BRS on the Attack

The Indian National Congress swept the December 2023 Telangana assembly elections, ending nearly a decade of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) rule. Since then, BRS — now in opposition — has positioned itself as a watchdog on service delivery, and healthcare has been a recurring front in that campaign. KTR, as working president, has been among the most vocal voices pressing that case. The Congress government came to power with explicit commitments to strengthen public health infrastructure. Allegations of infant mortality linked to preventable causes at a government hospital strike directly at that promise.

The Accountability Question

At the core of KTR's post is a pointed accountability argument: when the investigation into infant deaths at a government hospital concludes that rodents — not any official — bear responsibility, the system has failed the most defenceless patients imaginable. Newborns in a state facility. Whether that conclusion reflects the actual inquiry findings is a matter the Telangana health department has yet to address publicly in verifiable detail. Opposition parties across India have long used hospital negligence cases to contest ruling-party competence on health infrastructure — but few framings land with the bluntness of 'mice were found more culpable than officials.' If the state government does not respond with a credible inquiry outcome and corrective action at RIMS, that image hardens into a political liability.