Opposition wants solution to traffic near hospitals

Ambulances get stuck in gridlocks at U-turns and signals

LAHORE: The opposition benches demanded of the provincial government remove traffic signals and U-turns located a short distance from hospitals to avoid the traffic mess and facilitate ambulances.

The demand was put forward by deputy opposition leader Muhammad Sibtain Khan through a resolution he submitted in the Punjab Assembly.

He expressed strong reservations over the constant traffic mess around hospitals. He said Lahore was a historic city of more than 10 million people where traffic congestion had reached its peak due to ill planning and population growth.

He claimed traffic jams were a common sight near private and government hospitals and ambulances were stuck in long queues on roads.

He said the installation of traffic signals and U-turns near hospitals was among the major causes of gridlocks owing to which the patients could not reach on time. “As a result, many patients could not make it to the hospital and died inside the ambulances on roads.” He asked that a comprehensive plan be devised to facilitate the smooth flow of ambulances towards hospitals.

He added in his resolution that there should be no traffic signals and U-turns within a 500-metre radius of hospitals so that patients could be swiftly transferred to hospitals.

He demanded the government take appropriate measures to ensure the implementation of the proposal in the greater interest of the people.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2018.